Pro-Trump Michigan attorney arrested after hearing in DC over leaking Dominion documents

Following a hearing in a different case in federal court in Washington, D.C., an attorney who is charged with a crime for using unauthorised access to Michigan voting equipment following the 2020 election was taken into custody on Monday.

Following a hearing on potential fines against her for sharing private emails from Dominion Voting Systems—the subject of hoaxes regarding the defeat of former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election—Stefanie Lambert was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals. By defending Patrick Byrne, a well-known donor to election conspiracy theories, against Dominion’s defamation lawsuit, Lambert was able to access the Dominion emails.

The Marshals office claimed in a statement that Lambert was taken into custody on “local charges.” Earlier this month, a Michigan judge issued a bench warrant for Lambert following her absence from a court appearance in her case. In this case, she faces four charges related to her use of voting machines to obtain evidence for a conspiracy theory against Trump. Lambert had already filed a lawsuit in Michigan, but it was unsuccessful.

Lambert had admitted earlier on Monday that “law enforcement” will receive the documents from Dominion Voting Systems. Then, she submitted to a filing in her own Michigan lawsuit an affidavit sworn by Dar Leaf, a county sheriff in northern Michigan who had looked into fictitious allegations of widespread voter fraud from the 2020 election and which contained some of the hacked emails. The rest of the documents were posted to an account under Leaf’s name on X, the social platform formally known as Twitter.

Leaf did not respond to requests for comment. Lambert’s attorney, Daniel Hartman, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Byrne wrote in a text that he did not know if Lambert had been arrested, “but if she was, I respect her even more, and she can raise her rate to me.”

Lambert contended the Dominion documents obtained under discovery were evidence of “crimes” and needed to be disclosed.

Byrne wrote on X that Lambert “signed an NDA, but she found evidence of ongoing crime, and reported it to law enforcement. If she found a severed head in discovery box she had a duty to report it to law-enforcement, too.”

Dominion on Friday filed a motion demanding Lambert be removed from the Byrne case for violating a protective order that U.S. District Court Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya had placed on documents in the case. It said Lambert’s disclosure had triggered a new round of threats toward the company, which has been at the center of elaborate conspiracy theories about Trump’s loss.

“These actions should shock the conscience,” Dominion wrote in its motion seeking to disqualify Lambert. “They reflect a total disregard for this Court’s orders, to say nothing of the safety of Dominion employees.”

Upadhyaya during a hearing Monday said she had scheduled a subsequent one to determine whether sanctions against Lambert or removing her from the case were appropriate.

Dominion filed several defamation lawsuits against those who spread conspiracy theories blaming its election equipment for Trump’s 2020 loss. Fox News settled the most prominent of these cases for $787 million last year.

Dominion’s suit against Byrne is one of several the company has filed against prominent election deniers, including MyPillow founder Mike Lindell and attorney Sidney Powell.