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Trump conspiracy supporter Mike Lindell claims he could lose $2bn from election lawsuits

MyPillow CEO’s lawyers claim legal action against him is intended to stop his claims of election fraud

Graig Graziosi
Monday 07 June 2021 17:25 BST
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Mike Lindell threatens Dominion despite law suit against him

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is set to lose more than $2bn in a defamation lawsuit being brought against him by Dominion Voting Systems, according to his lawyer.

His legal team claims that Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic are engaged in "a conspiracy and enterprise to harm him."

Grace Dean from Insider reports that Mr Lindell has also allegedly received death threats, which his legal team attribute to the "cancel culture" they claim the companies perpetuated.

He was sued after frequently spreading the debunked conspiracy theory that Dominion and Smartmatic "flipped" votes for Donald Trump to Joe Biden during the 2020 election.

The first lawsuit was launched in February, in which Dominion sued Mr Lindell for $1.3bn.

The MyPillow CEO then counter-sued and filed a separate lawsuit against Dominion for $1.6bn, claiming the company was trying to stifle free speech.

He filed a second separate lawsuit against both companies on Thursday, explaining his conspiracy theory in an 82-page lawsuit.

The lawsuit includes a section titled "Shut Up Or Else," in which Mr Lindell's lawyers accuse Dominion of trying to stymie anyone making election fraud claims.

The lawsuit against Mr Lindell also includes his company, MyPillow, as a co-defendant.

His lawyers have worked to try to separate the charges against him from the company.

"MyPillow made no statements about Dominion," his lawyers wrote. "Instead, by suing MyPillow, Dominion seeks to punish Lindell for his statements by damaging his reputation, his finances, and his business."

Mr Lindell is not the only Trump-adjacent personality facing litigation from Dominion.

The company has also sued "Kraken" attorney Sidney Powell, Mr Trump's former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, and Fox News for defamation.

Mr Lindell's lawyers claim that the lawsuits are an attempt by the companies to thwart any question of election reliability, even if it has nothing to do with Dominion.

They said the lawsuits have "publicly vilified" Mr Lindell "as a liar" and a conspiracy theorist.

"Lindell is a victim of this conspiracy and enterprise by Dominion and Smartmatic to attempt to silence him by abusing the litigation process," the lawsuit read.

The MyPillow CEO has continued his claims that not only did election fraud occur, but that he has proof that it happened and that Mr Trump would eventually regain his position in the White House.

Shortly after Mr Biden took office, Mr Lindell aired a three-hour documentary called Absolute Proof in which he repeated many of the debunked theories he had been pushing immediately after the election.

The documentary aired on OAN airtime, which Mr Lindell purchased. The pro-Trump network aired a disclaimer prior to the programming distancing itself from Mr Lindell's claims.

According to the filing, Mr Lindell has already spent hundreds of thousand of dollars defending himself against the lawsuit.

Numerous retailers, including Costco, Kroger and Kohl's have stopped carrying his products, and some customers have threatened to boycott the brand.

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