MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, an ally of President Trump, defamed the election technology company Smartmatic with false statements that its voting machines helped rig the 2020 presidential election, a federal judge in Minnesota ruled Friday.
The county used Smartmatic’s computerized touchscreen ballot-marking devices and was the company’s only customer for the 2020 election.
Smartmatic attorney Erik Connolly said they will be seeking “nine-figure damages” from Lindell and MyPillow for “spreading lies” about the company.
“Smartmatic did not and could not have rigged the 2020 election,” Connolly said in a statement.
“It was impossible, and everything that Mr. Lindell said about Smartmatic was false.”
On Friday, a federal judge in Minnesota found that Mike Lindell, the founder of MyPillow and a Trump ally, had falsely accused Smartmatic, an election technology company, of helping to rig the 2020 presidential election through its voting machines.
Yet U. A. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan postponed until later proceedings the issue of whether Lindell, one of the nation’s leading propagandists of the fraudulent 2020 election, acted with the “actual malice” that Smartmatic must still demonstrate in order to obtain damages.
According to the judge, there are “genuine fact disputes” regarding whether Lindell made his remarks “with reckless disregard to their falsity or with knowledge that they were false.”. He mentioned that Lindell has an “unwavering belief” that his statements were truthful, according to the defense.
The judge’s cited statements stemmed from Lindell’s disapproval of the 2020 Los Angeles County election results, which gave former President Joe Biden 71 percent of the vote over Donald Trump and helped him win the state’s 55 electoral votes.
During the 2020 election, Smartmatic’s sole client was the county, which utilized its computerized touchscreen ballot-marking devices. Lindell claimed that the voting machines were manipulated to switch votes from Trump to Biden.
The judge found that Lindell had made false claims that Smartmatic tampered with the results 51 times, including in documentaries he produced, as well as in other media and in person.
“The Court concludes that no reasonable trier of fact could find that any of the statements at issue are true, based on the record presented,” Bryan put it.
They will be pursuing “nine-figure damages” from Lindell and MyPillow for “spreading lies” about the company, according to Smartmatic lawyer Erik Connolly.
“Smartmatic did not and could not have rigged the 2020 election,” Connolly said in a statement. “Mrdot Lindell’s claims regarding Smartmatic were untrue, and it was impossible. “.
Shortly after the Smartmatic decision was filed on Friday, Lindell told The Associated Press that although he hadn’t seen it, it was “the most bizarre thing I’ve ever heard.”. “.”.
Lindell went on to call Smartmatic “one of the most corrupt companies in the world,” and he vowed to keep fighting until its voting machines are “melted down and turned into prison bars. He declared that he would carry his campaign to use paper ballots instead of voting machines all the way to the United States. A. Supreme Court if necessary.
Smartmatic has been on a winning streak, having reached settlements last year with two conservative news outlets, including Newsmax and One America News Network. A lawsuit against Fox News is still pending against the Florida-based business.
Similar accusations have also been made by Lindell against Dominion Voting Systems. A jury decided in June that he had defamed a former Dominion employee by accusing him of treason, and he lost a case against the Denver-based company. Damages totaling $2.03 million were awarded by the jury.
Additionally, Lindell, a Republican, confirmed local news reports in Minnesota by texting CBS News on Friday that he is thinking about running for governor. The Democratic governor of Minnesota. Last week, Tim Walz declared that he was seeking a third term.
Lindell wrote, “I am considering running.”. “. As of right now, everything is going really well, and we are doing our research.
“I will definitely be adding securing our elections to my platform! We polled Minnesota and secure our elections was the 3 concern!” he continued his statement.
The headquarters of MyPillow are located in the Minneapolis region.
Many legal and financial setbacks have befallen Lindell and MyPillow in recent years, but in July, a federal appeals court decided that he was exempt from paying a $5 million arbitration award to a software engineer who contested data that Lindell claimed demonstrated China’s meddling in the 2020 election. The court said the arbitration panel overstepped its authority.
contributed to this report.
