MyPillow’s Mike Lindell Liable for Defaming Former Voting Machine Company Employee

A federal jury has found the MyPillow founder, Mike Lindell, defamed a former Dominion Voting Systems official he falsely claimed helped steal the 2020 election for Joe Biden.The jury only found Mr. Lindell liable in connection with two statements defaming the former product strategy and security director for the election machine company, Eric Coomer, and rejected several others. The verdict was also much lower than the $62.7 million that Mr. Coomer requested Mr. Lindell pay for spreading false claims on his public platforms.The verdict also spared the company Mr. Lindell is best known for. “MyPillow is 100% vindicated,” Mr. Lindell said after the verdict, according to 9 News. “It’s a huge breakthrough for free speech, our First Amendment rights.” He added that he plans to appeal the verdict.Mr. Coomer was the focus of a widespread post-election conspiracy theory. A Colorado-based podcaster claimed he had snuck onto an “antifa” group call before the election and heard a man identified as “Eric, the Dominion guy” tell other people on the call that he’d guaranteed President Trump would not win.The podcaster, Joe Oltmann, went on right-wing media after the election and claimed the Eric on the call was Mr. Coomer. One of the outlets where Mr. Oltmann made the claim was Mr. Lindell’s streaming channel, FrankSpeech. Mr. Lindell subsequently attacked Mr. Coomer in public appearances. The attacks continued for years and, at one point, Mr. Lindell accused Mr. Coomer of being “a part of the biggest crime this world has ever seen.”Mr. Coomer said that he was the victim of threats due to the false conspiracy statements and that they destroyed his career and life.After the verdict, Mr. Coomer released a statement saying, “Mike Lindell not only hurt me with his baseless lies — he hurt the American people and the democratic process.”Testifying at the trial, Mr. Lindell claimed he didn’t know any of the remarks he made about Mr. Coomer were false. Mr. Lindell also claimed that he was a victim of “lawfare” and was being sued in an effort to silence him.Mr. Lindell has claimed his fortune has vanished due to his work uncovering claims of election corruption. He testified that he once had a net worth of $60 million but is now millions of dollars in debt. Major retailers stopped carrying his products due to his controversial views.Mr. Lindell has tried to fundraise off of the defamation case and even has created a “JURY” promo code for MyPillow purchases that gives customers a free pillow with any other purchase. Mr. Lindell’s legal troubles are not over. He also faces a lawsuit from Dominion itself and Smartmatic, another voting machine company.Fox News paid a $787 million settlement to Dominion just as a defamation lawsuit was about to begin against the right-leaning news outlet.A former county clerk in Colorado was sentenced to nine years in state prison last year after being convicted of engaging in a scheme to give Mr. Lindell access to her county’s Dominion voting machines so that he could conduct an audit. Tina Peters continued to allege there was election fraud in Mesa County during her sentencing hearing.I am convinced you would do it all over again if you could,” Judge Barrett told Peters. “You are a charlatan.” He said she “craved” the fame, the podcast appearances, and the private jet rides provided by Mr. Lindell. The judge called her a “snake oil” saleswoman interested only in herself.

MyPillow’s Mike Lindell Liable for Defaming Former Voting Machine Company Employee

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