Trump ally Mike Lindell must face
defamation suit over election-rigging claims
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[September 20, 2022]
By Jack Queen
(Reuters) - MyPillow Inc Chief Executive
Mike Lindell must face a defamation lawsuit brought by a voting machine
company that the Trump ally falsely accused of rigging the 2020 U.S.
election, a Minnesota federal judge ruled on Monday.
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![](../images/092022PIX/news_o93.jpg)
Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow, speaks during
general session at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)
in Dallas, Texas, U.S., August 5, 2022. REUTERS/Go Nakamura |
Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright denied Lindell and MyPillow's motion
to dismiss the lawsuit by Smartmatic USA Corp, finding ample
evidence that Lindell ignored publicly available information
that contradicted his theories.
Judge Wright also found sufficient evidence that Lindell knew or
should have known his statements were false and acted with
"actual malice" in promoting them, a key legal threshold in
defamation cases.
Lawyers for the defendants did not immediately respond to
inquiries Monday.
An attorney for Smartmatic, J. Erik Connolly, told Reuters in a
statement the company was pleased with the ruling.
"Mr. Lindell continues to spread disinformation and, by doing
so, jeopardizes secure and accurate voting in the United States
and elsewhere. It must come to an end," Connolly said.
Smartmatic operated voting machines in Los Angeles County in
2020 and says there were no irregularities in its tallies.
The London-based company alleged in its January complaint that
Lindell knowingly made false election-rigging claims to boost
MyPillow's sales and made Smartmatic "synonymous with election
fraud."
The defendants said in their motion to dismiss that Lindell's
statements were "not inherently improbable" and were based on
publicly available information about problems with voting
machines.
Smartmatic and competitor Dominion Voting Systems Inc have filed
similar lawsuits against Trump allies and media outlets that
spread the rigging claims, including Fox Corp and Newsmax Media
Inc.
(Reporting by Jack Queen; Editing by Richard Chang)
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