After suing Mike Lindell, Sidney Powell, and Rudy Giuliani, Dominion says it will go after others who spread claims of election fraud - and it's 'not ruling anyone out'
Grace Dean
Wed, February 24, 2021,
Dominion's defamation lawsuit against Mike Lindell is "definitely" not its last, its CEO told CNBC.
Lindell, Sidney Powell, and Rudy Giuliani made baseless claims about Dominion's voting machines.
Asked whether the company would sue Fox News, John Poulos said Dominion was "not ruling anyone out."
Dominion Voting Systems' CEO said the company would continue to take legal action against people who spread baseless claims that its voting machines were used to "steal" the 2020 US presidential election.
Dominion has already filed defamation lawsuits against MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, the pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell, and former President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, seeking at least $1.3 billion in damages in each case.
Dominion CEO John Poulos told CNBC on Tuesday that the filing against Lindell on Monday was "definitely not the last lawsuit."
Dominion has sent cease-and-desist notices and warnings to preserve documents to more than 150 people, The Washington Post reported. This includes the media outlets Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News.
Asked whether the company would sue Fox News, Poulos said Dominion was "not ruling anyone out."
As conspiracy theories sprung up around the election, one posited that Dominion and Smartmatic, a rival election-technology company, developed technology that "flipped" votes from Trump to Joe Biden through a method developed with the regime of the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez.
The theory has been thoroughly debunked. But that didn't stop Powell and Giuliani from pushing elements of the theory while filing a series of failed lawsuits seeking to overturn the results of the election. Lindell has also spread misinformation about the machines, saying Dominion "built them to cheat."
A Fox News representative told Insider earlier in February that the network ran several "fact-check" segments "prior to any lawsuit chatter." While several of its news shows reported that there was no evidence of Dominion's systems changing votes, Fox News, in particular its opinion hosts, "questioned the results of the election or pushed conspiracy theories about it at least 774 times" in the two weeks after the network called the race, according to Media Matters.
On February 4, Smartmatic filed a $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox News over election conspiracy theories, saying it had "damaged democracy worldwide." Fox News said it fairly reported and commented on "allegations in a hotly contested" election and asked a judge to dismiss the defamation lawsuit.
Insider has contacted Fox News for comment on Poulos' remarks.
Lindell called 'reckless' in his peddling of disinformation
Poulos told CNBC that Lindell's claims were "absolute nonsense," adding that what the controversial CEO touted as evidence was actually "fake documents."
Poulos said the voter-fraud theory had caused "devastating" reputational damage to the company.
He said Americans could be "forgiven for believing" the claims because they were touted as facts.
Despite naming both Lindell and MyPillow in the lawsuit, Poulos said Dominion didn't want to put the pillow company out of business.
"The larger point is to get the facts on the table in front of a court of law where evidence is properly judged," he said.
In the lawsuit, Dominion listed various promotional codes that MyPillow had used to offer online discounts, including "QAnon" and "FightforTrump."
Poulos told CNBC that Lindell used the codes to attract people to MyPillow's website.
In the lawsuit, Dominion said Lindell's voter-fraud claims had caused MyPillow's sales to surge by up to 40%.
But Lindell told Insider he expected to lose money as well over the claims - which he stood by - including an estimated $65 million in revenue this year he attributed to boycotts from retailers including Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl's.
Read the original article on Business Insider
Grace Dean
Wed, February 24, 2021,
Dominion's defamation lawsuit against Mike Lindell is "definitely" not its last, its CEO told CNBC.
Lindell, Sidney Powell, and Rudy Giuliani made baseless claims about Dominion's voting machines.
Asked whether the company would sue Fox News, John Poulos said Dominion was "not ruling anyone out."
Dominion Voting Systems' CEO said the company would continue to take legal action against people who spread baseless claims that its voting machines were used to "steal" the 2020 US presidential election.
Dominion has already filed defamation lawsuits against MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, the pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell, and former President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, seeking at least $1.3 billion in damages in each case.
Dominion CEO John Poulos told CNBC on Tuesday that the filing against Lindell on Monday was "definitely not the last lawsuit."
Dominion has sent cease-and-desist notices and warnings to preserve documents to more than 150 people, The Washington Post reported. This includes the media outlets Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News.
Asked whether the company would sue Fox News, Poulos said Dominion was "not ruling anyone out."
As conspiracy theories sprung up around the election, one posited that Dominion and Smartmatic, a rival election-technology company, developed technology that "flipped" votes from Trump to Joe Biden through a method developed with the regime of the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez.
The theory has been thoroughly debunked. But that didn't stop Powell and Giuliani from pushing elements of the theory while filing a series of failed lawsuits seeking to overturn the results of the election. Lindell has also spread misinformation about the machines, saying Dominion "built them to cheat."
A Fox News representative told Insider earlier in February that the network ran several "fact-check" segments "prior to any lawsuit chatter." While several of its news shows reported that there was no evidence of Dominion's systems changing votes, Fox News, in particular its opinion hosts, "questioned the results of the election or pushed conspiracy theories about it at least 774 times" in the two weeks after the network called the race, according to Media Matters.
On February 4, Smartmatic filed a $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox News over election conspiracy theories, saying it had "damaged democracy worldwide." Fox News said it fairly reported and commented on "allegations in a hotly contested" election and asked a judge to dismiss the defamation lawsuit.
Insider has contacted Fox News for comment on Poulos' remarks.
Lindell called 'reckless' in his peddling of disinformation
Poulos told CNBC that Lindell's claims were "absolute nonsense," adding that what the controversial CEO touted as evidence was actually "fake documents."
Poulos said the voter-fraud theory had caused "devastating" reputational damage to the company.
He said Americans could be "forgiven for believing" the claims because they were touted as facts.
Despite naming both Lindell and MyPillow in the lawsuit, Poulos said Dominion didn't want to put the pillow company out of business.
"The larger point is to get the facts on the table in front of a court of law where evidence is properly judged," he said.
In the lawsuit, Dominion listed various promotional codes that MyPillow had used to offer online discounts, including "QAnon" and "FightforTrump."
Poulos told CNBC that Lindell used the codes to attract people to MyPillow's website.
In the lawsuit, Dominion said Lindell's voter-fraud claims had caused MyPillow's sales to surge by up to 40%.
But Lindell told Insider he expected to lose money as well over the claims - which he stood by - including an estimated $65 million in revenue this year he attributed to boycotts from retailers including Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl's.
Read the original article on Business Insider
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