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(WASHINGTON) — Former Trump attorney Sidney Powell and her legal team clashed repeatedly with a federal judge Monday during a hearing to determine if sanctions are warranted against her and other attorneys who filed a lawsuit in Michigan based on false claims of election fraud in an unsuccessful attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and the City of Detroit have requested that Federal Judge Linda V. Parker sanction Powell, attorney Lin Wood, and other members of the legal team that were involved in the efforts to have Michigan’s presidential election returns decertified due to unsubstantiated claims of voting irregularities.

Monday’s nearly six-hour hearing, at which Powell appeared virtually, quickly spiraled into chaos as attorneys from both sides shouted accusations at each other about the merits of the lawsuit at hand, which sought to block certification of the election and was subsequently denied.

David Fink, a lawyer for the city of Detroit, called the lawsuit “an embarrassment to the legal profession.”

“It was sloppy, it was unreadable, it was mocked in the public … it never should have been filed,” Fink said. “These lawyers should be punished for their behavior.”

Powell, who served on then-President Donald Trump’s legal team before being removed for pushing outlandish conspiracy theories, vigorously defended the lawsuit and the diligence that went into producing it, saying she “would file these same complaints again.”

Her statements came three months after she filed a motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by voting machine company Dominion Voting Systems, arguing that “no reasonable person” should have believed her election theories were “truly statements of fact.”

The City of Detroit is also seeking to have the attorneys prohibited from practicing law in the district and wants the various attorneys’ local state bar associations to undertake their own investigation — a process that recently led to attorney Rudy Giuliani’s temporary ban from practicing law in New York.

The effort, if successful, would mark the first financial penalty against those who sought to challenge the 2020 election in court based on false claims of election fraud or other election misconduct. In all, Trump and his supporters filed over 50 lawsuits across the country.

Judge Parker poured over one of those suits during the hearing, peppering Powell and her team with dozens of questions in an effort to determine if sanctions are warranted. The judge expressed skepticism about the legal basis for Powell’s suit, the various claims of fraud, and the evidence submitted to support them.

“The court is concerned these affidavits were submitted in bad faith,” Parker said of the suit, which was filed in in November and was dismissed by a judge after it was found to be riddled with factual errors and inaccuracies.

A number of the affidavits submitted to support allegations of fraud were debunked by local election officials, and questions were raised about credentials of a number of the expert witnesses used in the suit. The lawsuit’s anonymous military intelligence expert, for example, was reportedly a Dallas-based IT consultant who never even worked in military intelligence, according to a Washington Post report.

“How can any of you as officers of the court present this type of affidavit?” Parker asked at one point about a separate affidavit. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen an affidavit with more leaps. This is pure speculation.”

“We did a ton of due diligence,” said Howard Kleinhendler, a lawyer on the Powell team. “We did not submit falsehoods,” said Julia Haller, another attorney on the team.

Several attorneys, however, attempted to distance themselves from the suit. Wood, a staunch supporter of the president who filed multiple suits in the wake of the 2020 election, said he had “nothing to do” with the suit at issue in the hearing.

“My name was placed on there, but I had no involvement whatsoever,” he told the judge, claiming that he had offered general assistance to Powell but was not involved in this suit.

Another attorney said the team had spent no more than five hours total on the suit.

Parker did not issue a decision, or give an expected timeline for one.

ABC News’ Alexander Mallin contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — As part of his effort to get out in front of a politically sensitive issue, President Joe Biden on Monday convened a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland, law enforcement leaders and elected officials to discuss rising crime rates across the country.

Glancing at Garland at the top of the meeting, Biden opened his remarks by acknowledging that he’s been trying to solve this problem for many years.

“We’ve been at this a long time, a long time. Seems like most of my career I’ve been dealing with this issue. While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, we know there are some things that work. And the first of those that work is stemming the flow of firearms used to commit violent crimes,” Biden said.

“It includes cracking down on holding rogue gun dealers accountable for violating the federal law. It includes the Justice Department creating five new strike forces to crack down on illegal gun trafficking,” Biden said, without directly acknowledging more meaningful gun control is impossible without getting Senate Republicans to go along.

While Biden said he’d be asking the experts he assembled what else they believe should be done on the federal level to address rising crime rates, he did not directly address Congress or put any pressure on lawmakers to act on a national level.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki previewed the meeting at an earlier press briefing and said the group will discuss Biden’s “comprehensive plan to reduce gun violence and violent crime.”

Biden’s plan, unveiled last month, targets law-breaking gun dealers, provides federal resources to police departments for gun-crime enforcement and allows communities to repurpose millions of dollars of federal coronavirus relief funding for programs proven to prevent gun violence.

“During the meeting, the president will discuss his crime reduction strategy — strategy which gives cities and states historic funding through the American Rescue Plan, and a range of tools they can use to improve public safety in their communities including support for community violence intervention programs, summer employment opportunities and other proven methods to reduce crime,” Psaki said.

“I’ll underscore his commitment to ensuring their state and law and local law enforcement have the resources and support they need to hire more police officers and invest in effective and accountable community policing,” Psaki said.

Notably, Biden has not taken the same stance as some progressives who’ve called to “defund the police,” a position that gained traction last year during what many deemed to be a racial reckoning in the country.

Still, Republicans have attacked Biden for being “soft on crime.”

Psaki said Biden is stressing partnerships with local leaders on the effort. Attendees at the White House included Washington Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who just won New York’s City Democratic mayoral primary. Unlike other progressive candidates, Adams did not run on a “defund the police” agenda but instead cited “public safety” as his top priority for the city and Democrats in general.

“This president is making it clear,” Adams said following the meeting, “he’s going to redefine the ecosystem of public safety, and that includes identifying the role of police, schools, families, resources, employment.”

“Why did it take so long before we heard the gunshots that families were listening and hearing every night? Other communities are waking up the alarm clock, communities of Black, brown and poor people are waking up to gunshots and this president says this is not the America we’re going to live in,” he continued.

Police chiefs, including David Brown, superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, along with a community-based violence intervention expert, also attended the White House meeting.

Psaki said the group would talk about what the federal government is doing to stem the flow of guns used in crimes, “including the administration’s zero-tolerance policy for dealers who willfully sell guns illegally, the Department of Justice’s gun trafficking strike forces, as well as previous steps the White House has announced like cracking down on ghost guns, which are increasingly used in violent crimes.”

Biden’s session comes as the country faces a rise in violent crime, particularly in those involving firearms.

According to a study released earlier this year by the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice, homicides spiked by 30% in 2020 compared to the year before.

And in the first three months of 2021, the number of homicides increased by 24% compared to the same period in 2020 and by 49% compared to the start of 2019, the researchers said.

ABC News’ Ben Gittleson and Sarah Kolinovsky contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The top U.S. military general leading the withdrawal in Afghanistan stepped down during a ceremony in Kabul Monday, a sign that America’s longest war is nearing its end.

Gen. Austin Scott Miller has commanded U.S. Forces−Afghanistan and the NATO-led Resolute Support mission since the summer of 2018. At Monday’s ceremony, Miller handed his responsibilities off to Gen. Frank McKenzie, who leads U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) from its headquarters in Tampa, Florida.

“I need to let you know that command of this coalition has been the highlight of my military career,” Miller told a small audience at Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul.

“The countries that have served here, many have lost service members, civilians; our Afghan partners have lost service members, they’ve lost civilians,” Miller said. “And as we’ve spoken about it previously, on this very ground with this group over time, our job is now just not to forget.”

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin thanked Miller for his leadership in Afghanistan in a Monday afternoon tweet.

“I want to thank Gen. Miller for three years of exceptional leadership in Afghanistan. That we have been able to secure our interests in Afghanistan, as well as those of our allies and Afghan partners, stands as testament to his operational acumen and strategic vision,” he wrote on Twitter. “It’s also worth noting that we have conducted our retrograde safely and orderly, and the transfer in command from Gen. Miller to Gen. McKenzie does not signify the end of our drawdown process, only the next milestone. We remain on track to meet @POTUS’ end of August goal.”

A Pentagon spokesperson said Miller left Afghanistan following the ceremony and was traveling back to the United States.

As the U.S. military finishes its withdrawal from the country, an emboldened Taliban has ramped up attacks and gained ground.

“I’m one of the U.S. military officers who’s had the opportunity to speak with the Taliban,” Miller told the audience in Kabul. “I said, it’s important that the military sides set the conditions for a peaceful and political settlement in Afghanistan, we can all see the violence that’s taking place across the country, but we know that with that violence, that what is very difficult to achieve is a political settlement. So again, what I tell the Taliban is they’re responsible too.”

McKenzie, who traveled to Kabul to attend the handover ceremony, said that while Miller’s departure is a milestone in the U.S. withdrawal, it also signifies “our renewed commitment to our Afghan partners.”

“The most important thing that continues is our support to the people of Afghanistan and to its armed forces,” McKenzie told the audience, which included Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, chief of Afghanistan’s National Council for Reconciliation, and other Afghan officials.

“We are confident in you. We are confident you have what it takes to protect your country,” McKenzie said. “Our support will be different than what it was in the past, but we know how much you love your country, and we know the sacrifices that you have made in the past and that you’re going to be willing to make in the future to do that. You can count on our support in the dangerous and difficult days ahead. We will be with you.”

McKenzie will maintain the ability to launch counter-terrorism operations from bases and ships outside of Afghanistan as needed, but a major post-war concern is maintaining the U.S. diplomatic mission

To that end, a detachment of about 650 U.S. troops will remain in the country indefinitely to protect the U.S. embassy as well as the airport in Kabul, which is critical to keep the mission running.

The embassy announced Sunday that it had resumed in-person interviews for immigrant visas, including those Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) for Afghan translators, guides and other contractors who worked for the U.S. military and diplomatic missions.

Interviews are a key part of the visa application process, but they had been halted for a month because of a significant COVID-19 outbreak throughout Afghanistan, including the U.S. embassy there.

There are approximately 18,000 Afghans seeking SIVs: 9,000 who haven’t finished their application and 9,000 who are waiting for the U.S. government to move their case forward, according to a State Department spokesperson.

This resumption does not yet extend to everyone. For now, the embassy is only rescheduling applicants who had their interviews postponed and appointment capacity remains limited, the embassy said Sunday.

In the meantime, the U.S. will relocate a group of SIV applicants and their families out of the country to safe locations to await their cases being processed, President Joe Biden confirmed last week. While he said those relocations will begin before the end of this month, it’s still unclear how many applicants that will involve, where they will go and when.

Despite pressure from lawmakers and activists, the Biden administration has emphasized SIVs as the way to help Afghans whose lives are at risk, instead of evacuations. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has assigned 50 more staffers in Washington to help process paperwork and work through the enormous backlog.

But even with all that, critics said time is running out for the Afghans who risked theirs and their families’ safety by working for the U.S., as American forces draw down and the Taliban gain control of more districts.

ABC News’ Aleem Agha contributed to this report.

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