Dominion Voting doesn’t rule out suing Trump, media allies over election conspiracy theories

Dominion Voting Systems on Friday left the door open to suing President Trump and his media allies for promoting conspiracy theories about the company’s role in the 2020 election.

During a press briefing to discuss a $1.3 billion defamation suit filed Friday against pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, a Dominion attorney said additional litigation could soon be forthcoming. Asked if Trump might be named as a potential defendant, an attorney for Dominion made clear the president was not off-limits.

“The short answer is, we have not ruled anyone out,” said Dominion lawyer Thomas Clare. “We are looking very deliberately at the statements and actions of everyone who has been involved in talking about Dominion.”

The company previously threatened litigation against Fox News, some of its major on-air personalities and other conservative pundits and outlets who have linked Dominion to unfounded claims of widespread election tampering and voter fraud.

On Friday morning the company filed a 124-page defamation complaint against Powell for allegedly promoting “a false preconceived narrative” about the voting system corporation.

The suit alleges Powell “promote[d] a false preconceived narrative” about the 2020 vote, which included unsubstantiated claims that the company was established in Venezuela as part of a vote-rigging operation in favor of the late socialist leader Hugo Chávez and that Dominion bribed state officials in Georgia to secure its contract.

Powell did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

Dominion’s attorney told reporters that media outlets that gave a platform to Powell or otherwise amplified false claims about the company could face similar lawsuits.

“There are a number of individuals and media companies that we think are complicit and have legal responsibility for these falsehoods, both because they said them in their own voice through their on-air personalities and in print, and also because they provided a platform to Ms. Powell and others to continue to spread these falsehoods long after they had been discredited,” said Clare.

“We think that creates liability for those defendants,” he said, adding, “I do think, yes, we should look for media defendants in subsequent phases of this.”

Clare did not mention any of the news organizations by name while speaking with reporters but said Friday’s lawsuit “details at least 40 separate instances of false and defamatory statements made by Ms. Powell during her appearances on cable news programs, and other media outlets.”