Defamation trial against MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell now in the hands of the jury

Attorneys for both sides in the defamation trial of Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, made their closing arguments on Friday, capping a two week-long trial and putting the decision in the hands of the jury.  

Eric Coomer, the former director of product strategy and security for Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, is seeking $62.7 million in damages from Lindell for, according to the lawsuit, targeting “a private individual with false allegations of criminal conduct on a scale unprecedented in American history.”

That alleged criminal conduct is the claim that Coomer helped steal the 2020 election for Joe Biden.

The suit argues Lindell used his public platforms, MyPillow and the website FranksSpeech, to profit from and spread those false claims about Coomer.

Coomer said the continued harassment and threats from Lindell and others forced him to leave a 15-year career in an industry he loved and that the real-world consequences of their falsehoods have been devastating. His team argues Lindell either knew the claims about Coomer rigging the election were false, or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.

Lindell’s defense countered that there was already a litany of allegations circulating about Coomer in the conservative sphere before Lindell ever mentioned him. They argue that Coomer failed to prove Lindell’s statements did any further damage to his reputation or career.

Lindell said on the stand that he stood by his statements regarding Coomer; believing a claim is true is one of the defenses for defamation.

“They did not prove that Lindell knew by clear and convincing evidence that the statements were false,” said defense attorney Christopher Kachouroff.

The jury returns to its deliberations early Monday morning.

“What he has been put through is hell”

Coomer’s legal team has argued throughout the trial that the claims Lindell based his comments on were fabricated by conservative Colorado activist Joe Oltmann from Douglas County.

In November 2020, Oltmann started telling people that at some point prior to the election, he’d infiltrated a call with Denver area “Antifa” members, which included a man identified as “Eric from Dominion.”

“They're talking on this call and he responds, and I'm paraphrasing this, right… ‘Don't worry about the election. Trump is not going to win. I made effing sure of that. Ha ha.’ And everyone's like, ‘Yeah.’ And then somebody else responds ‘effing right,’” said Oltmann on his podcast.

From there, Coomer’s name quickly spread through rightwing news and social media, with Oltmann’s claim taken as proof that Dominion had somehow used its election equipment to change critical votes and steal the election. During the trial, an election expert from the University of Michigan testified at length that there has never been any evidence of that. Coomer’s attorneys also pointed to statements from the Republican U.S. Attorney General at the time, and the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency which found no fraud.

AP

Oltmann was also called as a witness during the trial. According to an account by 9News, He insisted he “had no doubt” Coomer was on the call, but claimed information about how he gained access to the call was protected by journalistic privilege.

Coomer’s attorneys listed ten allegedly defamatory statements from Lindell or his businesses, and they focused on a few of what they considered the most egregious.

“All of these statements were false and made with knowledge of their falsity or reckless disregard,” said lead attorney Charles Cain.

In one, made on May 9, 2021, Lindell said Coomer was “part of the biggest crime this world has ever seen” and called him “disgusting” and “evil.”

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

The statement came about a week after Coomer had reached a settlement in a separate  defamation lawsuit with the right wing media outlet Newsmax, which issued a retraction and apology to Coomer over claims that he manipulated election results in 2020. 

"Newsmax has found no evidence that Dr. Coomer interfered with Dominion voting machines or voting software in any way, nor that Dr. Coomer ever claimed to have done so,” read a part of the network’s statement.

Coomer's attorney said he believed his life might take a turn after the Newsmax settlement and that conspiracy theories about him might die down, until Lindell made those remarks. As for Lindell, the lawyer said the pillow CEO lashed out because he was worried the settlement meant he could no longer speak as freely on Newsmax or promote his business.

“You don’t get off defaming somebody if you think they blocked you from making money on Newsmax,” said Cain. He added there was nothing in the Newsmax settlement that specifically involved Lindell. “And why would it? … (The) world doesn’t revolve around Mike Lindell.”

The defense also focused on a ‘cyber symposium’ Lindell hosted in South Dakota in August of 2021 that promised digital proof of a stolen election. At one point, Oltmann took the stage and retold his story of the alleged Antifa phone call.

Giving Oltmann that platform, so long after his original claims, and in the face of Coomer's vigorous denials of them, showed reckless disregard for the truth, Coomer’s attorneys argued.

“They had nine months to investigate these claims and they didn’t even try,” said Cain.

Cain also highlighted another speaker at the symposium, David Clements, a self proclaimed election fraud evangelist, who said that Coomer was in charge of a voting machine feature to “murder the American people’s votes.”

“You’ve got your election cartel, you’ve got your vote trafficking organizations, and you have the man that pulled the trigger,” Clements told the audience.

Lindell’s website FrankSpeech hosted and streamed the event. The defense said Lindell either knew or reasonably should have known that these were blatantly false statements.

According to the defense, records from Coomer’s therapist show his anxiety, stress, and panic attacks all increased after the symposium.

“What he has been put through is hell,” Cain said.

Olivia Sun/Pool/The Colorado Sun

Coomer used to hike and race mountain bikes, according to his attorney. Now he’s selling his home in Salida and moving. He still suffers from anxiety, depression and panic attacks, they said. 

“He remains on those medications today. What he’s been through, mentally, physically, I don’t know how many people in the United States have been the target as 'the guy who rigged the election.'”

“The Ministry of Truth”

When it was their turn to talk to the jury, the defense told them the case is simple and the only thing that matters is whether Lindell believes what he’s said is true.

“Some of you are tempted to deliberate for a long time. It should be ten minutes, in and out,” defense attorney Jennifer DeMaster instructed the jury. “The First Amendment still matters.”

“You can call (what he said) insane, you can call it crazy, but that’s not the standard of the First Amendment protections,” said DeMaster. “Mr. Lindell unequivocally believes everything he said.”

She said Coomer’s team failed to show any evidence that Lindell ever doubted what he was saying about the government, election security or Coomer. And she told the jury it should consider Lindell's comments about Coomer being a traitor as hyperbole, because he calls “everyone a traitor.”

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

DeMaster also used her closing statements to launch a broader attack against those who have pushed back on false claims about the election, arguing that Coomer’s suit is part of a coordinated effort to suppress those who continue to say the 2020 election was stolen.

In a reference to the totalitarian society in the book “1984,” she called Coomer’s former employer, Dominion Voting Systems, and others, including the Colorado County Clerk’s association, "the Ministry of Truth Club."

“They are going to tell you what you are allowed to say, and what you need to know,” said DeMaster. “They are part of this group trying to silence speech.”  

Outside the federal courthouse, after the jury had gone home for the weekend, Lindell echoed those sentiments while livestreaming on his current platform, LindellTV.

“This whole trial was about was lawfare,” he told viewers online. “You're well familiar with that. It was all about lawfare and about suppressing people's voices.” 

In her closing arguments, DeMaster also defended Oltmann’s original claim, questioning why, in an email exchange with his bosses about the allegations in Oltmann's podcast, Coomer didn't say the story was false, even though weeks later he wrote a Denver Post opinion piece denouncing the claim.

“He didn’t say it in an email to his own bosses? Maybe he was waiting to see whether Oltmann recorded it or not?” she speculated.

During the trial Lindell’s defense set up a timeline to show that claims about Coomer were circulating widely within six months of the election, well before Lindell started to make public statements about him, and so the damage those allegations caused was therefore not his responsibility.

Peter Kent, a social media impact expert hired by the defense, said a Team Trump account tweeted out a message about Coomer three times, which Donald Trump then re-tweeted to his 89 million followers. 

“It could be millions upon millions of people who saw those tweets from the President,” said Kent.

He also noted at least eight TV broadcasters repeated the claims about Coomer (some, including Newsmax and Salem Media Group, have apologized and retracted their stories.) 

“This is all before Lindell said anything about Dr. Coomer,” Kent said.

Lindell’s team also argued he wasn’t responsible for statements other people made about Coomer on his streaming platform FrankSpeech because he wasn’t personally publishing anything. Lindell said he did not know about Oltmann’s story before it was discussed onstage at the August, 2021, cyber symposium.

The defense accused Coomer of going after Lindell for his money long after Coomer’s reputation had already been torn apart after the 2020 election. 

“There was no damage, it occurred in November and December. It was done” by the time Lindell got involved, said DeMaster, and she noted what Coomer said on the stand: “He admitted to all of us ‘my reputation was done in, January, 2021.’”