A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday rejected requests from former Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell that he dismiss lawsuits from Dominion Voting Systems against the three.
The ruling pertains to three defamation lawsuits Dominion filed — at $1.3 billion each — against the three defendants for allegedly claiming without evidence that the voting machine company rigged the 2020 presidential election for President Biden by manipulating votes.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump nominee, swept aside the initial claims put forth by the defendants for why the suits should be tossed, from arguments that their alleged statements were legally protected opinions or were otherwise made without malicious intent to claims that the D.C. court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.
The Wednesday order clears the way for the litigation to proceed. Separately, Dominion this week also sued a pair of far-right media companies and the former head of Overstock.com for defamation based on statements made about the 2020 election.
via joemiller