Dominion Is Going to Unleash Legal Armageddon on Trump Election Truthers

President and CEO of Dominion Voting Systems John Poulos testifies during a hearing before the House Administration Committee January 9, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Dominion Voting Systems was baselessly accused of election fraud for months by Trump backers. Now, it’s unleashing a wave of defamation lawsuits against them, and the CEO says it’s not done yet.

The election tech company has already sued Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, “Kraken” lawyer Sidney Powell, and MyPillow CEO Lindell over their baseless claims of election conspiracy, for a total of around $4 billion since January.

But the CEO of the company at the center of debunked election fraud claims told CNBC Tuesday that Dominion’s latest lawsuit against Lindell is “definitely not the last,” and that they’re “not ruling anyone out.”

“The reputational damage alone has been devastating to us,” Dominion CEO John Poulos told CNBC. “We are seeing untold damage unfolding every day with our customers and the effects that they are having with a lot of constituents, who unfortunately watch these videos...they can be forgiven for believing them.”

Asked by CNBC if Fox News was “on your list,” Poulos smiled and said: “We’re not ruling anybody out.”

The company filed its latest lawsuit earlier this week against Lindell and MyPillow, seeking more than $1.3 billion in damages from the pro-Trump businessman who produced a two-hour documentary called “Absolute Proof,” which repeated just about every thoroughly-debunked election fraud claim under the sun, and released it earlier this month. The 113-page complaint alleges more than two dozen examples of defamation from Lindell against Dominion, and suggests he continued to repeat the claims in order to sell pillows.

In response to the lawsuit, Lindell told VICE News that he “wanted them to do this,” and that getting sued for more than a billion dollars was “a great day for me.” He also estimated that his company has lost up to $70 million from retailers like Kohl’s and Bed Bath & Beyond cutting ties, though those companies as well as JC Penney, have said they stopped selling the pillows due to decreased demand and poor sales.

“Dominion’s trying to bully me into standing down,” Lindell told VICE News. “It’s going to backfire on them.”

In addition to Lindell, Dominion sued Giuliani and Powell for more than $1.3 billion each in January. Voting technology company Smartmatic also sued Giuliani, Powell, the Fox Corporation, Fox News, and three hosts of Fox shows for a total of $2.7 billion earlier this month. Both Fox and the three hosts—Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs, and Judge Jeanine Pirro—have filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit.

Dominion did not immediately respond to VICE News’ request for comment.

The company sent a letter to YouTube earlier this month asking the video platform to “preserve and retain” posts from a list of individuals that are “related to Domino's defamation claims.”

The list includes Fox News and the three hosts, as well as Trump and his presidential campaign, Sean Hannity, former national security advisor Michael Flynn, lawyer Lin Wood, Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis, One America News, Newsmax, and others.

Dominion’s lawsuit against Lindell this week also hints at potential future legal action against other people and corporations. For example, it said that by continuing to invite Lindell on the network, Newsmax has shown “groveling fealty to big sponsors over regard for the truth.” The suit also singles out Tucker Carlson and Fox News for “knowingly broadcast[ing]” Lindell’s false claims “to a global audience.”