The election infrastructure company Dominion Voting Systems has sued Powell for the defamation after he filed lawsuits and appeared in conservative media on behalf of then-President Donald Trump to raise doubts about the 2020 election results. Dominion claims that Powell knew that her accusations in the election fraud were false and harmful to the company.
In a new court document, Powell’s lawyers write that she shares her ‘opinion’ and that the public could ‘reach their own conclusions’ or vote was changed by election machines.
“Given the highly charged and political context of the statements, it is clear that Powell describes the facts on which she based the lawsuits she filed in support of President Trump,” Powell’s defense attorneys wrote in a court case Monday.
‘Indeed, plaintiffs themselves characterize the relevant statements as’ wild accusations’ and’ foreign claims’. They are repeatedly described as ‘inherently unlikely’ and even ‘impossible’. Such characterization of the alleged defamatory statements supports the defendants’ view that reasonable people would not accept such statements as a fact, but would only view them as allegations awaiting the test of the courts through the opposition process. ‘
Electoral authorities and Dominion called Trump’s loss in the election sounding accurate and unaffected by potentially major security risks. Trump’s lawyers and his allies quickly lost all but one of the 60 minors after the election, as the then president sought to block the victory of Joe Biden in several key states.
Although the Trump campaign wanted to distance itself from Powell after she held a conspiracy-filled news conference with his other attorneys, Trump has told people he likes Powell’s arguments and wants to see more of her on television.
In addition to Powell, the client, former Trump security adviser Michael Flynn, two people previously known to CNN, a client, described a session that began as an impromptu gathering, but ended and ended at some point in screaming matches broke out. some of Trump’s associates pushed back Powell and Flynn’s more outrageous proposals to overthrow the election.
“Reinforced by Trump’s endorsement of her false accusations, which launched her into a political superstructure, Powell’s defamatory media campaign continued and intensified” with her appearance in the media, Dominion claimed in his lawsuit.
Powell also claims in court that her statements about the 2020 election were a “matter of public concern” about a publicly known company, Dominion, and thus speech protection.
Her lawyers also claim she has the right to make accusations because she acted as a lawyer for the Trump campaign, even during her right-wing TV appearance. As a result, Powell is asking a judge in Washington, DC, to dismiss the case, or allow it to be moved to federal court in Texas.
CNN’s Paul LeBlanc contributed to this report.