Dominion Voting Sues Sidney Powell For Defamation Over Election Conspiracy—And Others May Be Next
Alison Durkee
Forbes Staff
Business
Updated Jan 8, 2021, 10:50am EST
TOPLINE
Dominion Voting Systems
filed a lawsuit against former Trump campaign legal advisor Sidney Powell Friday for defamation and deceptive trade practices, after the attorney promoted a “false preconceived narrative” tying the company’s voting machines to widespread election fraud, which the company confirmed will be the first in a “series” of lawsuits targeting Trump allies who have spread the baseless claims—and potentially the president himself.
Sidney Powell conducts a news conference at the Republican National Committee on lawsuits regarding ... [+]
KEY FACTS
Powell is largely responsible for spreading the far-right conspiracy theory claiming Dominion voting machines helped to fraudulently elect President-elect Joe Biden.
Powell “doubled down” on the false fraud narrative after Dominion sent the attorney a
cease and desist letter in December demanding she retract her “knowingly baseless” claims, the lawsuit notes, prompting the company to file the litigation.
Dominion’s lawsuit notes there are “mountains of direct evidence” disproving Powell’s election fraud claims about the company’s machines—which were actually
used in many counties that voted for President Donald Trump—and Powell’s lawsuits involving the fraud claims have all
failed in
court due to lack of evidence.
As a result of Powell’s allegedly defamatory statements, the lawsuit argues, “Dominion’s founder, Dominion’s employees, Georgia’s governor, and Georgia’s secretary of state have been harassed and have received death threats, and Dominion has suffered enormous harm.”
The lawsuit details at least 40 separate instances of allegedly false and defamatory statements Powell has made that Dominion alleges were made with “actual malice,” with Dominion attorney Thomas Clare telling reporters Friday “it is hard to imagine defamation on a broader scale that has been deeper or more damaging” than this case.
Powell has not yet responded to a request for comment on the filing.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“Lies were told about government election officials, elections workers, and Dominion Voting Systems. Those lies have consequences,” Dominion CEO John Poulos said in a statement. “Today is the first step to restore our good name and faith in elections by holding those responsible to account. We intend to pursue justice vigorously to its rightful end.”
BIG NUMBER
$1.3 billion. That’s how much Dominion is initially requesting in damages from Powell, which Clare said Friday was likely a “conservative” estimate given the alleged harm against Dominion is still ongoing. Dominion is also asking the court to grant a “a narrowly tailored permanent injunction” ordering the removal of any of Powell’s statements that are found to be false and defamatory, and block Powell from making any further defamatory claims about the company.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
While going after Powell was Dominion’s first priority, Clare confirmed Friday the company will file subsequent lawsuits against others who have spread the conspiracy theory. Dominion has
sent letters warning of potential litigation to the White House, Fox News, Newsmax, One America News and a number of Trump-allied individuals, including his lawyer
Rudy Giuliani, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News personalities Sean Hannity and Maria Bartiromo, conservative attorney Lin Wood and
Melissa Carone, who Giuliani has pushed as a witness to the purported election fraud. The Powell lawsuit is the “first in a series of legal actions that Dominion will be taking,” Clare told reporters Friday. The attorney noted that subsequent litigation—which is expected to be filed in the “near term” while the litigation against Powell is still pending—will likely include right-wing media outlets who have promoted the false claims, and Clare did not rule out that the company could sue Trump himself.
KEY BACKGROUND
Dominion’s lawsuit comes after employee Eric Coomer had
already sued the Trump campaign, Powell, Giuliani and other allies for defamation separately in December, which is currently pending. Powell’s promotion of the Dominion conspiracy theory has been controversial even within the president’s orbit: the Trump campaign
distanced itself from the attorney after she began spreading the Dominion fraud claims, and though Powell reportedly
continued to visit the White House and have the president’s ear—Trump reportedly even
considered appointing her as special counsel to investigate election fraud—Powell later
claimed she had been banned from speaking with the president entirely. Powell’s theories have gained traction on the far right, however, as well as with Trump, who recently
repeated false claims about the voting machines during a recent
phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
