Lin Wood, a Trump “stop the thievery” lawyer who originally defended Kyle Rittenhouse, has threatened to sue the Kenosha shooter’s current counsel after he labeled Wood an “idiot” on CNN on Friday night.
During an appearance on Cuomo Prime Time, Rittenhouse defense attorney Mark Richards lashed on Wood, accusing him of treating his client like a cash cow and letting him linger in jail for fundraising purposes.
“You know, Lin Wood and I went head-to-head and you know, he’ll probably sue me for it, but he’s an idiot who let him [Rittenhouse] talk to The Washington Post while he was under charges for murder,” Richards said during an interview with Chris Cuomo.
Wood sent Richards a note on Saturday denying his assertions.
“You publicly stated in an interview on CNN that I was an idiot. False, I am not,” Wood wrote, before blaming another right-wing former Rittenhouse attorney, John Pierce, for allowing Rittenhouse to speak with the Washington Post, among other decisions.
Lin Wood (Rittenhouse’s first lawyer) threatens to sue trial counsel Mark Richards today for calling him “an idiot” on CNN for how he handled the case. pic.twitter.com/cCotZOJKVF
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) November 20, 2021
“You should be ashamed of denigrating me and #FightBack for our legal and good faith efforts to help Kyle,” Wood wrote. “Demand is hereby made that you immediately retract and correct your false accusations against me. If you do not do so, I will prove that you are right on one point you made on CNN – I will sue you.”
Wood made headlines back in late September after a former law partner claimed he lied to a judge and covered up a plot to take their share of settlements involving former Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann.
Lin Wood (Rittenhouse’s first lawyer) threatens to sue trial counsel Mark Richards today for calling him “an idiot” on CNN for how he handled the case. pic.twitter.com/cCotZOJKVF
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) November 20, 2021
To make matters worse for Wood, his former partners claim he documented the alleged plan in a series of late-night emails, which they now have.
While Wood rose to prominence as a lawyer for persons such as wrongfully accused Atlanta Olympics bombing suspect Richard Jewell, he has subsequently suffered a series of career setbacks after shifting his focus to chasing vaporous proof of “voter fraud” and supporting the QAnon conspiracy theory.
“They tried to whore him out for money.” ~ Rittenhouse lawyer Mark Richards on Lin Wood and the fired John Pierce. Richards also calls Lin Wood an “idiot.” – 1/2 pic.twitter.com/4x7EB4ZqGh
— Don Lewis (@DonLew87) November 20, 2021
A federal court in Michigan sent Wood, Sidney Powell, and other lawyers engaged in a 2020 election lawsuit to their respective state bars in August for probable suspension or disbarment and ordered them to pay legal expenses that may total hundreds of thousands of dollars. Wood is already facing disciplinary action in his native state of Georgia for refusing to accept a mental health assessment.
Wood and three former partners in his office—Nicole Wade, Jonathan Grunberg, and Taylor Wilson—have been involved in a court battle since September 2020 over the destiny of an unknown sum of money from settlements involving former Kentucky high school student Nick Sandmann. While Sandmann is only referred to the legal documents as an unidentified “Disputed Client,” it is apparent from the facts in the motions that he is the person being discussed.
Go ahead and sue the crap outta each other.https://t.co/XyIuWHF1Uv
— Tea Pain (@TeaPainUSA) November 20, 2021
Sandmann’s well-publicized 2019 interaction with a Native American protester at the Lincoln Memorial sparked a national media firestorm and elevated the MAGA hat-wearing student to the status of conservative cause célèbre. Sandmann resolved claims against CNN and The Washington Post for unknown sums in 2020, with Wood as one of his attorneys.
Wood and his ex-partners filed a case in 2020 after a series of bizarre happenings surrounding Wood, including an alleged attack on one of the lawyers. While Wood confesses to referring to the lawyers as “partners,” he maintains that they were never partners in his firm.
As part of the firm’s dissolution, Wood promised to pay his ex-partners an unknown portion of what he would earn from Sandmann’s settlements in a March 2020 deal. However, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit now claim that Wood was already plotting behind the scenes to defraud them of the settlement funds.
‘I Am Not’: Trump Lawyer #LinWood Threatens to Sue Rittenhouse Lawyer for Calling Him ‘Idiot’ ……. But wait, I thought… isn’t he? https://t.co/j1LTBpkzNY
— Realist60 (@BGN960) November 21, 2021
According to the ex-partners, Wood wrote two emails to Todd McMurtry, his co-counsel on the Sandmann cases, about 3 a.m. one day in February 2020. Wood allegedly pressed McMurtry to work with the “Disputed Client” to sign an agreement that would take advantage of a Georgia legal rule about payments by objecting to the three other lawyers receiving any money from the Sandmann cases in the emails titled “A good idea!” and “Taylor, Jonathan, and Nicole.”
“In short, I need your help and the help of [Disputed Client] to nip this nonsense in the bud quickly and quietly… Will you help me?” Wood wrote, according to one court filing.
If the emails are real, they show Wood planning in great detail to ensure that his ex-partners did not get money from Sandmann’s cases, even as he drew closer to reaching an agreement with them to split the profits.
I protect your right to call Lin Wood an idiot https://t.co/wNkJa90z3D
— The First Amendment (@USConst_Amend_I) November 21, 2021
“Their efforts to be greedy could damage me, my family, my legacy, and my clients—which include your clients [REDACTED] if the disputes become public,” Wood allegedly wrote to McMurtry. “This needs to be nipped on the bud and quickly so.”
When Wood was supposed to send his ex-partners their agreed-upon portion of the Sandmann money in July 2020, he instead stated that he couldn’t because the unidentified customer had opposed to anyone getting money other than Wood. Wood would later claim that he had no role in the client’s choice not to split the cash, an accusation that his ex-partners say is contradicted by his own emails.
Rittenhouse’s lawyer criticized Wood for allegedly trying to profit off of Rittenhouse’s imprisonment. https://t.co/sSPUybBzlF
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) November 21, 2021
“That is a fraud,” the former partners point out in one court filing.
Wood’s position in the case is complicated by his ex-partners’ claims that he did not turn over the emails during discovery, the process through which opposing parties share important information in a dispute. Instead, they claim Wood hid the existence of the emails by lying under oath that he had supplied them with all of the papers they requested.
