The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from perennial complainer and Trump ally Mike Lindell, who was seeking to ultimately get a massive defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems over his lies about the 2020 election thrown out. Thus, the Dominion case continues.
Dominion is an election technology company that has prominently figured in false claims from Lindell and others about the integrity of the last presidential election, although no real-world evidence of widespread election fraud, perpetrated by Dominion or any other interest, has ever emerged. Federal Judge Carl Nichols previously ruled late last year that Dominion’s defamation litigation against Lindell — and fellow Trump allies Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani — could proceed, concluding in Lindell’s case that the election technology firm showed to a sufficient extent that Lindell “made his claims knowing that they were false or with reckless disregard for the truth.” Notably, Lindell is still sticking by allegations he previously made about the last presidential race, which his defense has been aiming to use to undercut the idea he could be found liable for “actual malice.”
“Lindell asserts today, as he did throughout the relevant period, that his statements regarding Dominion, its voting machines, and the integrity of the tabulation were, and continue to be, valid, accurate, and true,” Lindell’s side said in court filings. In public, Lindell provides plenty of support for the idea he still believes what’s known as the “Big Lie.” Besides his general advocacy that basically amounts to PR work, like his involvement with a movie supposedly spotlighting election fraud that featured an ex-Fox commentator, Lindell has also provided support to litigation related to the electoral process. Individuals associated with Lindell were also involved, per available evidence, with an unauthorized breach in Mesa County, Colorado, where disgraced local elections official Tina Peters helped facilitate the copying of data from county election equipment. Peters is now facing a series of criminal charges, and indications point to someone Lindell himself once said worked for him making the copies.
Lindell’s phone was recently seized by the FBI in reported connection to an investigation related to the Colorado incident focusing in part on potential criminal conspiracy. Meanwhile, he is also facing a sweeping defamation lawsuit from Smartmatic, another election technology firm, that a judge recently upheld. That lawsuit, like the Dominion case, also names Lindell’s company MyPillow, and in pushing back, Lindell and the company attempted to distance the beleaguered firm from Lindell’s challenged statements, but U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina Wright pointed to Lindell’s promotion for MyPillow in direct conjunction with false claims about the election. As summarized by NBC, Lindell sought in the Dominion case to make the company prove “actual malice” in pursuing their claims, because Lindell argued the private firm was essentially a public interest in connection to its role in elections — leading to Lindell predictably insisting his statements didn’t meet that standard.
