Dominion lawsuits against Powell, Lindell and Rudy move ahead---this should be interesting

So the defense lawyers for Trump's people---Powell, Lindell and Rudy---were saying their speech was political speech and was not subject to civil action. Basically they are saying it didn't matter if they were lying or not about Dominion.

That's a heck of a deal.

Instead of saying they can back up all the crap they said they have elected to say it doesn't matter if it is lies.

The Trump appointed judge called BS on that argument and allowed the lawsuits to go forward.

It's Politico but the quotes are the quotes

quote:

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The three defendants’ arguments found little resonance with Nichols, a Trump appointee who seemed disdainful of their conduct and of suggestions that their statements were within the bounds of freewheeling political debate.

“As an initial matter, there is no blanket immunity for statements that are ‘political’ in nature,” Nichols wrote in his 44-page opinion. “It is true that courts recognize the value in some level of ‘imaginative expression’ or ‘rhetorical hyperbole’ in our public debate. … But it is simply not the law that provably false statements cannot be actionable if made in the context of an election.”

Nichols said many of the statements cited in the suit qualified as comments that could be seen as making factual claims capable of being proved true or false.

“The question, then, is whether a reasonable juror could conclude that Powell’s statements expressed or implied a verifiably false fact about Dominion,” the judge wrote. “This is not a close call.”

The judge noted that Powell repeatedly said the founder of Dominion claimed he could change vast numbers of votes at his whim.

“These statements are either true or not; either Powell has a video depicting the founder of Dominion saying he can ‘change a million votes,’ or she does not,” Nichols said.

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This is a part of the lawsuits that those watching the pillow guy now should pay attention to:

quote:

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However, the judge said the company had viable claims that Powell, Lindell and Lindell’s company, My Pillow, sought to profit financially by spreading false and inaccurate information.

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All those crazy fund raising gimmicks they had about "send money to help us audit the elections" do look like scams now.

It will be interesting to see how these lawsuits are handled. I suspect Dominion is not interested in a settlement--they are going to want to get in front of a jury and make the three defendants put up or shut up under oath.