Dominion Voting Systems sues Giuliani for $1.3 billion over election-fraud claims
Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, exploited false election-fraud claims to hawk gold coins, cigars and supplements on a podcast, according to a $1.3-billion defamation suit filed by voting machine company Dominion Voting Systems.
Dominion’s lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Washington, may now force Giuliani to defend his actions in spreading what the company says are bogus claims that it helped flip millions of votes to President Biden and cost Trump a second term in office.
“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 company alleged in its complaint.
Giuliani did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Dominion previously sued former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell for defamation after she led the charge against the company by claiming foreign enemies had infiltrated its voting software as part of a vast conspiracy. She has not yet responded to that allegation.
The suit against Giuliani, who sought to charge the Trump campaign $20,000 a day for legal work on election-related lawsuits, comes after the bogus conspiracy helped inspire a deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, following a rally at which Trump and Giuliani both spoke.
A Dominion Voting Systems worker driven into hiding by death threats has filed a defamation lawsuit against President Trump’s campaign.
“Even after the United States Capitol had been stormed by rioters who had been deceived by Giuliani and his allies, Giuliani shirked responsibility for the consequences of his words and repeated the Big Lie again,” the Dominion said in its lawsuit.
Others may also be sued for attacking the company — and, it claims, trashing its reputation — by repeating conspiracy theories to explain Trump’s failed bid for a second term. Giuliani, Fox News and the White House itself were among those who received letters from Dominion’s attorneys in December.
In its new complaint, Dominion said Giuliani spoke frequently about the false conspiracy in public settings but declined to make voter fraud claims in court where he would have to prove them. In one Pennsylvania hearing, Giuliani admitted that the Trump campaign “doesn’t plead fraud” and that “this is not a fraud case.”
“He was unwilling to make false election-fraud claims about Dominion and its voting machines in a court of law,” the company said.
The network is running a pre-taped interview to counter claims made by pro-Trump guests and hosts on election fraud.
According to the suit, Giuliani touted false claims about Dominion while marketing gold and silver coins on his YouTube show in December, saying, “I accomplished a lot in 2020, exposing the truth,” and warning viewers that in uncertain times the one thing they could count on to protect their finances was “physical gold and silver.”
“He recommended that his viewers buy gold from ‘the company you can trust’ and told them to ‘give them a call and tell them Rudy sent you,’” according to Dominion’s complaint. “And, Giuliani advised, ‘if you call them right now, they’ll give you up to $1,500 of free silver on your first order.’”
Dominion said the lawsuit was needed to “set the record straight, to vindicate the company’s rights under civil law, to recover compensatory and punitive damages, and to stand up for itself, its employees, and the electoral process.”
Dominion’s earlier suit against Powell also seeks $1.3 billion. She repeatedly claimed its software had ties to Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013. Powell did not respond to an email Monday morning.
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