WASHINGTON, DC – A former Donald Trump lawyer who made several false allegations of electoral fraud in relation to the 2020 presidential election is now arguing that “no reasonable person” would have believed his conspiracy theories.
Sidney Powell’s lawyers present the argument in a lawsuit hoping to get a $ 1.3 billion defamation suit filed against her by Dominion Voting Systems to be dismissed, reports CNN. Dominion filed the lawsuit in January.
“Until [assuming] that each of the statements alleged in the Complaint it could if proven to be true or false, no reasonable person would conclude that the statements were actually statements of fact, ”says the suit, according to Business Insider.
Powell said Dominion’s voting machines were rigged to exchange Trump’s votes for Joe Biden, his Democratic opponent, during the election. There is no evidence that any exchange of votes took place in what experts say is the safest election in the history of the United States.
According to CNN, Powell was sharing his “opinions” about the election and that people were free to draw their own conclusions. Powell made several public and TV appearances promoting the false claims. She lost all the lawsuits she filed when making the false claims, reports Buzzfeed.
“In fact, the Claimants themselves characterize the statements in question as’ wild accusations’ and ‘bizarre allegations,” says the suit. “They are repeatedly labeled ‘unlikely’ and even ‘impossible’. Such characterizations of the allegedly defamatory statements further support the Defendants’ position that reasonable people would not accept such statements as facts, but would view them only as claims awaiting trial by the courts through the adversarial process. “
According to Buzzfeed, Powell’s lawyers want the Dominion case or case to be transferred to Texas. They are also arguing that Powell’s claims were “hyperbole” and should be protected by the First Amendment.
But Buzzfeed reports that government documents show that many people arrested during the January 6 uprising on the United States Capitol cited Powell’s allegations of a rigged voting system as a reason to believe the election was “stolen” from Trump.
Dominion has separate lawsuits against former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and Mike Lindell, the CEO of My Pillow. Conservative commentators Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro were sued by election technology company Smartmatic.