Mike Lindell says he’s suing Dominion for $1.6 billion

Mike Lindell announced during his 48-hour livestream launch of his “free speech”-focused social media website that he plans to sue Dominion Voting Systems for $1.6bn.

The company sued Mr Lindell – the CEO of MyPillow and a staunch ally of Donald Trump – and his company for defamation for continuing to amplify baseless claims and conspiracy theories that it manipulated 2020 election results.

During the livestream for the delayed launch of his Frank website, Mr Lindell claimed his move is not a countermeasure against Dominion’s suit but about “First Amendment rights and free speech”.

Mr Trump’s attorney Alan Dershowitz – among other right-wing guests on Monday’s stream, along with Ted Nugent and Scott Baio – said he supports the lawsuit.

Mr Lindell’s lawsuit appears to try to distance MyPillow from Mr Lindell, who “spoke for himself” when he discussed Dominion, according to the suit.

The lawsuit claims: “MyPillow has not engaged in discussion about the 2020 election. However, as an American company supporting American constitutional values, MyPillow unreservedly supports Lindell’s right to exercise his First Amendment freedoms concerning the matters of critical public concern, like election matters.”

But his lawsuit claims that Dominion caused “grave harm” to MyPillow “as a result of Dominion’s suppression of speech and attacks” on the company.

“We’re pushing back offensively – we’re on the offence,” Mr Lindell said during his livestream.

In a statement to The Independent, Dominion legal counsel Stephen Shackelford of Susman Godfrey LLP said: “This is a meritless retaliatory lawsuit filed by MyPillow to try to distract from the harm it caused to Dominion.”

The former president’s legal team, his Justice Department, the FBI and elections officials across the US have not found or presented any evidence of widespread voter fraud. Audits of vote counts in several states that Mr Trump challenged in the wake of the 2020 presidential election confirmed the outcomes.

Dominion has also sued Rudy Giualiani and Fox News for defamation, and right-wing cable networks Newsmax and One America News Network have aired on-air disclaimers after legal threats following their conspiracy-riddled coverage of Dominion and the 2020 election.

Mr Lindell’s social media network Frank was set to launch last week for users to entered their phone numbers who received a code to gain “VIP” access, which has been delayed since Thursday. On Monday morning, he started a two-day “Frankathon” to introduce the site, which was still not accessible.

He claimed that he is getting “death threats and everything else. …. They’re attacking our power grid here” and that more than 15 million people were viewing the livestream.

The website will not allow post swear words, porn, death threats or taking “God’s name in vain,” he announced last week.

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