Trump ally Mike Lindell must face defamation suit over election-rigging claims

By Jack Queen

(Reuters) – MyPillow Inc Chief Govt Mike Lindell should face a defamation lawsuit introduced by a voting machine firm that the Trump ally falsely accused of rigging the 2020 U.S. election, a Minnesota federal decide dominated on Monday.

Decide Wilhelmina M. Wright denied Lindell and MyPillow’s movement to dismiss the lawsuit by Smartmatic USA Corp, discovering ample proof that Lindell ignored publicly accessible info that contradicted his theories.

Decide Wright additionally discovered ample proof that Lindell knew or ought to have identified his statements have been false and acted with “precise malice” in selling them, a key authorized threshold in defamation instances.

Legal professionals for the defendants didn’t instantly reply to inquiries Monday.

An lawyer for Smartmatic, J. Erik Connolly, instructed Reuters in an announcement the corporate was happy with the ruling.

“Mr. Lindell continues to unfold disinformation and, by doing so, jeopardizes safe and correct voting in the USA and elsewhere. It should come to an finish,” Connolly stated.

Smartmatic operated voting machines in Los Angeles County in 2020 and says there have been no irregularities in its tallies.

The London-based firm alleged in its January criticism that Lindell knowingly made false election-rigging claims to spice up MyPillow’s gross sales and made Smartmatic “synonymous with election fraud.”

The defendants stated of their movement to dismiss that Lindell’s statements have been “not inherently inconceivable” and have been based mostly on publicly accessible details about issues with voting machines.

Smartmatic and competitor Dominion Voting Techniques Inc have filed related lawsuits towards Trump allies and media retailers that unfold the rigging claims, together with Fox Corp and Newsmax Media Inc.

(Reporting by Jack Queen; Enhancing by Richard Chang)