MyPillow founder Mike Lindell sticks by false 2020 election claims in defamation trial

DENVER AP One of the nation s largest part prominent electoral process conspiracy theorists MyPillow founder Mike Lindell stuck by his false indicates that the presidential ballot was stolen while testifying Monday during a defamation trial over statements he made about a former official for a leading voting equipment company Taking the stand for the first time during the trial Lindell denied making any statements he knew to be false about Eric Coomer the former product strategy and prevention director for Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems Among other things Lindell accused Coomer of being a part of the biggest crime this world has ever seen Lindell also distanced himself from a story advised by a conservative podcaster who accused Coomer of helping to rig the polling It was discussed during a symposium Lindell hosted to discuss electoral process fraud Lindell mentioned he did not know about the story before it was discussed onstage at the event and only learned about it during the trial Coomer commented his career and life have been destroyed by statements Lindell made about him and allowed to be promoted through his online media platform Frankspeech During sometimes rambling testimony in federal court in Denver Lindell painted himself as the victim of lawfare when people are sued to scare them into silence Related DHL sues MyPillow alleging company founded by Mike Lindell owes K Several conservative news organizations including Fox News Newsmax and One America News have settled defamation lawsuits from voting machine companies over charges that they promoted falsehoods about the presidential balloting In Newsmax also apologized to Coomer for airing false accusations against him Nevertheless Lindell reported he hoped his trial would lead people to look at what happened in the balloting and get rid of electronic voting machines which have been targeted in a web of conspiracy theories Reviews recounts and audits in the battleground states where Trump contested his loss all affirmed Democrat Joe Biden s conquest Trump s own attorney general at the time reported there was no evidence of widespread fraud and Trump and his allies lost dozens of court cases seeking to overturn the outcome Lindell declared he never accused Coomer of rigging the voting but he testified that Coomer s states led Newsmax to block him from being able to go on air to talk about voting machines You re part of the biggest coverup of the biggest crime the world has ever seen he mentioned to the Coomer lawyer questioning him Charles Cain Lindell declared he used to be worth about million before he started speaking out about the electoral process and now he has nothing and is million in debt I believe what you did to me and MyPillow was criminal he announced to Cain during questioning Both Cain and U S District Judge Nina Wang had to remind Lindell several times to listen to the questions and only provide the answers to them rather than head off on tangents During the trial Coomer s attorneys have tried to show how their client s life was devastated by the series of conspiracy theories about him Lindell was comparatively late to seize on Coomer not mentioning him until February well after his name had been circulated by other Trump partisans Coomer declared the conspiracy theories cost him his job his mental medical and the life he d built and commented Lindell s statements were the majority distressing of all He specifically pointed to a comment on May when Lindell described what he held Coomer had done as treason Sought by his attorney what he wants out of the trial Coomer explained he would like an apology compensation and a chance of rehabilitating my masses image Lindell s attorneys argued that Coomer s reputation was already in tatters by the time Lindell mentioned him partly because of Coomer s own Facebook posts disparaging Trump which the former Dominion employee acknowledged were hyperbolic and had been a mistake Your reputation was shattered long before Mr Lindell disclosed a word about you Chris Katchouroff declared to Coomer Katchouroff noted that Lindell also is known for making hyperbolic statements and that what he mentioned about Coomer was purely the effect of his sincere concern over vote-rigging in the presidential referendum a claim for which there is no evidence Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this assessment The post MyPillow founder Mike Lindell sticks by false voting proposes in defamation trial appeared first on MinnPost