Election infrastructure company Dominion Voting Systems sued Powell for defamation after she filed lawsuits and made appearances in the conservative media on behalf of then President Donald Trump to sow doubts about the results of the 2020 elections. Dominion says Powell knew that his accusations of Electoral fraud was false and damaging to the company.
In a new lawsuit, Powell’s lawyers wrote that she was sharing her “opinion” and that the public could come to “their own conclusions” about whether the votes were altered by electoral machines.
“Given the highly accused and political context of the statements, it is clear that Powell was describing the facts on which she based the lawsuits she opened in support of President Trump,” Powell’s defense lawyers wrote in a lawsuit on Monday. .
“In fact, the Claimants themselves characterize the statements in question as ‘wild accusations’ and ‘bizarre allegations’. They are repeatedly labeled ‘inherently 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. “
Election officials and Dominion bluntly called Trump’s defeat in the election accurate and exempt from any possible major security risks. Trump’s lawyers and his allies quickly lost or gave up on everyone except for a minor case of almost 60 after the election, while the then president tried to nullify Joe Biden’s victory in several major states.
Although the Trump campaign tried to distance itself from Powell after she gave a conspiracy press conference with her other lawyers, Trump told people he liked Powell’s arguments and wanted to see her more on television.
In addition to Powell, the meeting included his client, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, two people familiar with the matter previously told CNN, describing a session that started as an impromptu meeting, but evolved and ended up exploding in shouting matches at certain points, as some of Trump’s advisers rejected Powell and Flynn’s most outrageous suggestions to overturn the election.
“Encouraged by Trump’s endorsement of his false accusations, which launched her into political stardom, Powell’s smear campaign in the media continued and intensified” with his media appearances, Dominion claimed in his lawsuit.
Powell also claims in court that his statements about the 2020 elections were a “matter of public concern” about a publicly known company, Dominion, and therefore protected speech.
Her lawyers also claim that she had the right to make accusations because she was acting as a lawyer for the Trump campaign, even during her right-wing TV appearances. As a result, Powell is asking a judge in Washington, DC, to dismiss the case or allow it to be taken to the federal court in Texas.
CNN’s Paul LeBlanc contributed to this report.