As trial opens, Mike Lindell’s attorneys say he spread claims about Dominion official because he was ‘triggered’

Attorneys for a former Dominion Voting Systems official declared in court Tuesday that MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell s false maintains about him were fueled in part by Lindell blaming the official for his banishment from conservative television Opening statements kicked off a trial in federal court in Denver that will decide whether Lindell defamed Eric Coomer a former director at Dominion when he accused Coomer of treason during Lindell s discredited effort to undermine the results of presidential balloting Coomer who filed the suit in April is seeking damages from Lindell for the physical and emotional distress that attorneys say resulted from Lindell s false insists Dominion has filed its own string of lawsuits to combat unproven assertions that it was involved in rigging the referendum against President Donald Trump The company settled one lawsuit with Fox News for nearly million In addition to Dominion vote deniers targeted Coomer after Colorado-based podcaster Joe Oltmann publicly identified Eric the Dominion guy Lindell Coomer contends regurgitated and elevated Oltmann s contends to a wider audience This is more than a mere insult to Coomer Charlie Cain one of Coomer s attorneys declared in court Tuesday This was about severe distress and fearing for his life for the last four years Cain revealed Lindell s suggests were extreme and outrageous He displayed a threatening text message Coomer received and he mentioned Coomer needed therapy and medication to deal with the stress Cain argued that Lindell was upset at Coomer in part because Newsmax a conservative TV channel had stopped allowing Lindell on air after the channel settled a separate lawsuit with Coomer in April Shortly after Lindell accused Coomer of treason and commented he should turn himself in to officers Lindell s attorneys meanwhile argued to the jury Tuesday that Lindell made the indicates against Coomer because he maintained them and because Lindell had been intentionally baited by Coomer Attorney Chris Kachouroff noted Lindell rightly or wrongly was upset about not being allowed on Newsmax anymore After Lindell publicly attacked Coomer in the wake of the Newsmax settlement Kachouroff noted Coomer attempted to bait Lindell into defaming him by serving him with a lawsuit shortly before Lindell spoke at a rally at the Colorado state Capitol That prompted Lindell to take the mic and say that Coomer would soon be behind bars Lindell made several other comments about Coomer in the subsequent days Kachouroff acknowledged but only because Coomer triggered Lindell by having him served with a lawsuit so publicly He announced that was Coomer s goal and Kachouroff quoted an email and text from Coomer about wanting to sue Lindell More fundamentally Kachouroff declared Lindell deduced the debunked declares he made about the referendum Related Articles Feds detain wife children of suspect in Boulder fire attack for quick deportation Colorado increases number of young people who can held in pre-trial detention in emergencies Defamation trial starts in Denver over vote states pitting ex-Dominion executive against MyPillow CEO Colorado s Jewish state lawmakers decry antisemitism in Boulder attack We must confront hate forcefully Trump s big beautiful tax bill risks food assistance for tens of thousands of Coloradans think tanks estimate Evidence will show that Mike maintained he was telling the truth that he concluded they were truthful at the time he made them and the First Amendment protects him Kachouroff revealed He argued that Coomer s professional reputation had suffered because Coomer s own anti-Trump Facebook posts came to light not because of alleges made by Lindell The trial is set to last through the end of next week Coomer began testifying Tuesday morning and he denied that his lawsuit was a shakedown of Mike Lindell Lindell who sat with his unit of attorneys a insufficient feet from Coomer is expected to testify in his own defense MyPillow the company he founded in is also a defendant as is FrankSpeech Lindell s media company Oltmann whom Cain accused of fabricating his own research on Coomer is not a defendant He was subpoenaed by Coomer s attorneys and is expected to testify Wednesday Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter The Spot