WASHINGTON – One of the largest manufacturers of voting machines in the US on Monday sued a leading supporter of former President Donald Trump, claiming that the businessman had slandered the company with false accusations that he had hampered the 2020 election for Joe Biden.
Dominion Voting Systems hired Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow Inc. in Minnesota, and his company sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, claiming more than $ 1.3 billion in damages.
In its complaint, the company cites a number of statements that Mr. Lindell has made, among other things, in media appearances, posts on social media and a two-hour film claiming to be widespread election fraud. Mr. Lindell said he helped produce the film, which he released online in early February.
The complaint alleges that Mr. Lindell made false allegations about the integrity of Dominion’s voting machines and that he knew no credible evidence, confirming his allegations that the company’s the election of Mr. Trump stole – what Dominion called the ‘Big Lie’.
“He is well aware of the independent audits and the version of the ballot that the Big Lie unequivocally refutes.” “But Lindell … sells the lie to this day because the lie sells pillows.”
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MyPillow Inc. is also named as accused.
In an interview Monday, Mr. Lindell said he was “very, very happy” to hear about the case.
“I have all the evidence on that,” he said. “Now it will be made known faster, all the machine fraud and the attack on our country.”
Dominion’s lawsuit accuses Lindell of repeatedly and falsely claiming that algorithms in Dominion’s voting machines vote for Mr. Trump stole. It said he had undertaken a marketing campaign for the pillow business based on his support for Mr. Trump and the former president’s allegations that the election was stolen from him.
Dominion says the allegations by Mr. Lindell and others have irreparably damaged his reputation, jeopardizing his contracts with state and local governments, and causing death threats and harassment against employees. The company says it supplies election equipment used by more than 40% of American voters.
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‘Mr. Lindell doubles and triples’
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Federal and state officials said there was no evidence that any voting system wiped out or changed the November election. Electoral officers counted and audited millions of paper ballots in various countries, confirming the results set forth by Dominion’s machines. These states include Georgia, which Mr. Prayers with less than 12,000 votes out of about 5 million.
Last month, Dominion filed a defamation suit against Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, and pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell. Mr. Giuliani said he would use the lawsuit to investigate Dominion and that the case was an attempt to censor him. Mrs Powell said she had not published any statement she knew to be untrue and that she had credible evidence.
Attorneys for Dominion have sent letters to various media outlets and others claiming that the lawyers are spreading false allegations of electoral fraud, withdrawing or instructing them to keep records related to the 2020 election in case of possible litigation, The Wall Street Journal report.
Another voice machine company, Smartmatic USA Corp., has sued Fox Corp’s
Fox News, which is seeking $ 2.7 billion in damages for what it claims were defamatory remarks about the company’s products. The network said it was proud of the election coverage in 2020 and called the lawsuit merciless. Fox Corp. and Wall Street Journal, parent News Corp., have joint ownership.
Megan Meier, a lawyer for Dominion, said that Mr. Lindell became one of the leading promoters of demands that Dominion direct the election. “Even though some of his allies started to get a little quiet, Mr. Lindell doubled and tripled,” Meier told The Wall Street Journal last week.
In the complaint from Dominion it was said that the company in December and January letters to Mr. Lindell, in which they retract and set out factual errors in his allegations.
Mr. Lindell said a number of retailers have stopped selling the products of his pillow company since he began promoting the election fraud claims. A spokesman for Kohl’s Corp. said he had decided not to buy any more stock, but said the decision was due to declining customer demand. A spokesman for Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. also said the company abandoned the brand due to poor sales, not politics.
Twitter Inc. the mr. Lindell’s account was permanently suspended in January because he had repeatedly violated his policy on civil integrity, a Twitter spokesman said.
Write to Alexa Corse by [email protected]
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