A jury Monday found that MyPillow founder Mike Lindell defamed a former employee of a prominent voting equipment company by calling him a traitor, telling Lindell and his online media platform to pay $2.3 million in damages.
The decision came after a two-week trial involving one of the biggest proponents of the myth that the 2020 election was stolen from Republican President Donald Trump, a lie that still dominates national politics. Other such cases ended in settlements before trial.
What happened?
A worker passes a Dominion Voting ballot scanner Jan. 4, 2021, while setting up a polling location at an elementary school in Gwinnett County, Ga.
The jury found Lindell made two defamatory statements about Eric Coomer, the former product strategy and security director for Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems. On May 9, 2021, Lindell attacked voting machine companies and said Coomer was a traitor.
That statement came a day after Newsmax apologized to Coomer for airing false allegations against him. Lindell testified that he was upset because he thought Coomer made a deal to prevent him from appearing on Newsmax to talk about voting machines. However, ahead of the trial, lawyers for both sides agreed that the settlement deal between Coomer and Newsmax did not mention Lindell.
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The other statement came on April 6, 2022, a day after Lindell was served with Coomer's lawsuit as he was about to appear at an event at the Colorado state Capitol. Lindell accused Coomer of being "part of the biggest crime this world has ever seen."
The jury also found Lindell's online media platform, Frankspeech, defamed Coomer because of comments someone made at an election fraud symposium streamed on Frankspeech in 2021.
The jury cleared Lindell of defaming Coomer eight other times for statements made by himself and others on Frankspeech.
What was the reaction?
On his new online media platform, Lindell TV, on a show hosted by Trump ally and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani after the verdict, Lindell stressed that MyPillow, which promoted the 2021 symposium, was not found liable for the defamatory statements.
Later, Lindell told reporters he would continue to speak out about voting machines.
His legal defense told supporters in an email that he stood up for the First Amendment — echoing his defense team's approach — and was "largely victorious" in the case.
"Mike Lindell stood alone — refusing to pay hush money and refusing to apologize for voicing concerns shared by millions of Americans," it said.
One of Coomer's attorneys, David Beller, said Lindell hurt not only Coomer but the democratic process. He thinks the jury's decision will help repair that damage.
"This verdict allows the county to heal, though undoubtedly with scars money cannot hide," he said.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell holds a news conference June 2 outside the Alfred A. Arraj United States Courthouse in Denver.
What is defamation?
Defamatory statements are comments that harm someone's reputation. Because Lindell's statements involved a matter of public concern — elections — jurors had to find that Lindell knew they were false or didn't bother to check whether they were true. A 1964 ruling known as New York Times v. Sullivan and related cases set that higher legal bar for things said about public figures or matters.
Lindell could have offered proof of his claims to defend himself at trial, but didn't.
"We met the highest constitutional standard under the First Amendment and that occurred in large part because Mr. Lindell claimed he had evidence of voter fraud by Dr. Coomer when he had none," said Charles Cain, another lawyer who represented Coomer.
Other cases
Coomer has another lawsuit pending in Colorado involving a podcaster who said he heard Coomer promise to rig the 2020 election in an alleged antifa conference call, an account that also was shared at Lindell's symposium. He also sued former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne in Florida.
Salem Media Group, a Christian and conservative media company whose hosts interviewed the podcaster about his account, said on its website that it apologizes for the harm caused to Coomer and his family and all statements about the allegations were removed from its website. The company did not immediately respond to questions about when the apology was posted and why.
2020 vote
Dominion Voting ballot-counting machines are seen Sept. 29, 2022, at a Torrance County warehouse in Estancia, N.M., during election equipment testing.
Lindell is an enthusiastic proponent of "The Big Lie"— the idea that fraud cost Trump the 2020 election.
Despite being repeatedly disproved, Trump continues to insist that a murky conspiracy deprived him of a victory in 2020 — even after he won an election with the same procedures last November.
There is no evidence of anything amiss with the 2020 election. Trump's then-attorney general said there was no indication of widescale fraud. That is the same conclusion of numerous recounts, audits and investigations — including multiple ones run by Republicans. Trump and his allies lost more than 50 court cases trying to overturn the election.
Trump pardoned more than 1,000 people convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol that sought to keep Trump in office.
