Election theft claims not statements of fact

Pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell’s lawyers said “no reasonable person” would believe his false claims and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election to be “truly statements of fact.”

Powell’s new argument, which had aggressively promoted claims that the election was rigged against former President Donald Trump, came Monday in a court case asking a federal judge to dismiss the $ 1.3 billion defamation lawsuit filed. by Dominion Voting Systems in January.

Dominion, whose voting systems were used in numerous states during the 2020 contest, claims that Powell and other major conspirators against election theft, including Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and MyPillow’s CEO, Mike Lindell, have caused “irreparable damage” to the company.

Trump and his legal team, which at one time included Powell, won the Nov. 3 election, even after the media and officials called for the race for Joe Biden. At a press conference in late November, alongside Giuliani and other lawyers, Powell claimed that Dominion was part of an international conspiracy of electoral fraud involving “communist money” from countries such as Venezuela and Cuba.

Trump’s lawyers distanced themselves from Powell shortly thereafter, but he continued to file lawsuits making similar claims about Trump’s career theft and full of fraud, with the goal of decertifying vote results in key states.

In the court file made public Monday night, Powell’s lawyers argued that Dominion’s defamation suit should be dropped because his claims were merely constitutionally protected expressions of political opinion, rather than statements from done.

“Determining whether a statement is protected involves a two-step investigation,” Powell’s attorneys wrote in the filing in Washington federal court. “Can the statement be proved true or false? And reasonable people would conclude that the statement is in fact, given its wording, its context, and the circumstances surrounding its publication.”

“Analyzed under these factors … no reasonable person would conclude that the statements were in fact statements of fact,” the lawyers argued.

The motion to dismiss included a number of legal precedents that supported the view that political discourse “lies at the core of First Amendment protection.”

“Furthermore, in light of all the circumstances surrounding the statements, their context and the availability of the facts on which the statements were based, it was clear to reasonable persons that Powell’s statements were his legal opinions and theories. on a matter of utmost public concern, “the lawyers argued.

Following Trump’s loss to Biden, Powell made a series of election theft claims that seem extravagant, promising to “release the kraken” and reveal evidence of his conspiracies. “It will be biblical,” he said in late November.

The judges dismissed their claims in several battlefield states. But in January, several Republicans said they believed Trump had received more votes than Biden, according to polls at the time.

Trump, who never accepted Biden, demanded in a rally in front of the White House on Jan. 6 that Republican lawmakers reject Electoral College results in key swing states. A crowd of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol shortly after the rally, forcing a joint session of Congress to hide and temporarily halting certification of Biden’s victory.

The invasion caused five deaths. More than 300 people have been accused of the Capitol revolt. Trump was charged in the House with inciting insurrection, but was acquitted in the Senate.

Representative Mo Brooks, R-Ala., Who spoke at the pre-riot rally in Washington, on Monday repeated false allegations of election theft when he launched his campaign in the Senate.

Dominion has firmly hinted that it will file additional defamation lawsuits. MyPillow’s most recent lawsuit against Lindell “is definitely not the last,” Dominion CEO John Poulos told CNBC last month.