USA TODAY International Edition
Dominion sues Giuliani for $ 1.3B, alleging defamation
WASHINGTON – Dominion Voting Systems filed a $ 1.3 billion defamation lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani, adding to mounting legal challenges facing President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer who led the failed effort to overturn the 2020 election results.
The 107- page Dominion lawsuit alleges that Giuliani made more than 50 statements disparaging the company’s equipment in speeches, on Twitter and on podcasts.
“Giuliani’s statements are defamatory,” the lawsuit said. “They have exposed Dominion to the most extreme hatred and contempt.”
Other legal challenges facing Giuliani include federal prosecutors investigating him for dealings in Ukraine. The New York State Bar Association may boot Giuliani from its membership over his speech at a Trump rally the day of the Capitol riot this month. And Middlebury College in Vermont even revoked an honorary degree.
Giuliani said in a statement that the lawsuit will allow him to investigate Dominion’s history, finances and practices. He threatened a countersuit alleging violation of his constitutional right to free speech.
“The amount being asked for is, quite obviously, intended to frighten people of faint heart,” Giuliani said. “It is another act of intimidation by the hate- filled leftwing to wipe out and censor the exercise of free speech, as well as the ability of lawyers to defend their clients vigorously.”
Courts have rejected scores of complaints about the election, which President Joe Biden won with 306 Electoral College votes compared with 232 for Trump. Biden prevailed in the popular vote by more than 7 million votes.
Attorney General William Barr dismissed the assertion that the voting “machines were programmed essentially to skew the election results” by saying the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security “haven’t found anything to substantiate that.”
The lawsuit was accompanied by scores of exhibits listing Giuliani’s accusations against the company it says are unfounded – such as fixing elections in Venezuela – in messages spread to millions of Trump followers on Twitter and in tens of thousands of retweets.
The lawsuit alleged that Giuliani sought $ 20,000 a day for his efforts.
“Although he was unwilling to make false election fraud claims about Dominion and its voting machines in a court of law because he knew those allegations are false, he and his allies manufactured and disseminated the ‘ Big Lie,’ which foreseeably went viral and deceived millions of people into believing that Dominion had stolen their votes and fixed the election,” the lawsuit said.
This month, the company sued another Trump lawyer, Sidney Powell, for $ 1.3 billion, also accusing her of defamation.
Giuliani defended his efforts during a speech at the Trump rally near the White House on Jan. 6 before the Capitol riot.
“Let’s have trial by combat,” Giuliani said. “I’m willing to stake my reputation, the president is willing to stake his reputation, on the fact that we’re going to find criminality there.”
The rally followed fall hearings in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona, where Giuliani floated conspiracy theories while urging lawmakers to stop the “theft of an election.” But in each state, officials certified the results of Biden’s victory over Trump.
Federal authorities have also been investigating Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine, where he urged an investigation of then- candidate Joe Biden leading up to the election. Two of Giuliani’s associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, face federal campaign finance charges.
Federal prosecutors were reviewing Giuliani’s bank records, according to The Wall Street Journal. Prosecutors sought access to his emails, according to NBC News.
Middlebury College revoked an honorary degree earlier this month that Giuliani received in 2005 after he was New York’s mayor during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Middlebury College President Laurie Patton said the revocation was because of Giuliani’s role “in fomenting the violent uprising against our nation’s Capitol.”