In his rambling, hour-long online announcement, Oltmann railed against mail-in ballots, taxes, tolls, gun laws, and medical companies concealing a cure for cancer. He promised to free former county clerk and convicted felon Tina Peters, close off primaries to unaffiliated voters, and represent the state’s “have-nots.” Oltmann is the only candidate thus far to address chem trails.

Among election delusion peddlers, Oltmann has distinguished himself by calling for violence and defaming innocent people. Recently, he called Gov. Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser, District Attorney Dan Rubinstein, Secretary of State Jena Griswold, and Judge Matthew Barrett a “synagogue of Satan Jews” who robbed Tina Peters of her life and dignity while hiding a “company of demons” in plain sight. These “traitors” should hang, said he.

I know I’m being pedantic but “Satan synagogue” should be “satanic synagogue,” since the noun should be modified by an adjective, not another noun. At least in the aforementioned social media post, Oltmann used the correct conjugation of the verb “to hang.” In the past, he has insisted “they be hung” which isn’t the same thing, not by a long shot.

Oltmann’s Twitter bio claims he lives in San Antonio, Texas. Surely there’s a newly gerrymandered district there calling his name. A homeowner’s association board would be the best fit. Nothing takes care of weeds and yard kitsch like the threat of execution.

Oltmann joins a crowded field of 20 candidates. Of the few candidates with actual legislative experience, only State Rep. Scott Bottoms, is a fellow election denier. In addition to pleading for Peters, Bottoms has accused the Federal Bureau of Investigation of instigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Conspiracy theory credentials might give Bottoms and Oltmann an edge among precinct caucus attendees, but debunked theories are unlikely to sway primary voters. Mainstream Republicans and right-leaning unaffiliated voters will gravitate to candidates with experience and scruples.

Among the dozen also-ran candidates who decided to skip serving in local office for a chance to be on camera, Oltmann stands out as the only one currently being sued for defamation. Oltmann’s specious claims against Eric Coomer, a former employee of Dominion Voting Systems, cost Coomer more than Oltmann can ever repay — his reputation, health, and safety.

The court has already ordered Oltmann to pay more than $90,000 in fees and sanctions for failing to cooperate. Judging by the losses incurred by fellow defamers Mike Lindell, Randy Corporon, and Eric Metaxas, it won’t go well for Oltmann when the court rules later this spring. Oltmann can’t pay damages with campaign donations.

Too bad bankruptcy can’t come sooner and dissuade him from running altogether. Candidates like Oltmann, Bottoms, and the other MAGA conspiracy theorists tarnish the once proud Republican brand. That¶¶Òőap not just bad for the party but bad for the state which was more affordable and better run when there were two healthy, competitive political parties.

Today, Colorado faces high health and home insurance rates, poor road conditions, business-stifling overregulation, state budget shortfalls, and rising electricity and heating costs. We need a well-known, experienced Republican gubernatorial candidate who can compete against a well-known, experienced Democratic opponent. Those who lack experience and name recognition should leave the race. Those who peddle conspiracy theories, defame innocent Americans, and wish death upon their political rivals should leave the state. Do us a solid; go tackle those lawn gnomes in Texas.

Krista Kafer is a Sunday Denver Post columnist.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

The settlement comes after Fox News Channel to settle a similar lawsuit in 2023 and Newsmax paid what court papers describe as $40 million to from a different voting machine manufacturer, Smartmatic, which also was of pro-Trump conspiracy theories on the network.

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis ruled earlier that Newsmax did indeed defame Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems by airing false information about the company and its equipment.

But Davis left it to a jury to eventually decide whether that was done with malice, and, if so, how much Dominion deserved from Newsmax in damages. Newsmax and Dominion reached the settlement before the trial could take place.

The settlement was disclosed by Newsmax on Monday in a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It said the deal was reached Friday.

“Newsmax believed it was critically important for the American people to hear both sides of the election disputes that arose in 2020,” the company said in a statement. “We stand by our coverage as fair, balanced, and conducted within professional standards of journalism.”

A spokesperson for Dominion said the company was pleased to have settled the lawsuit.

The disclosure of the settlement came as Trump, who lost his 2020 reelection bid to Democrat Joe Biden, vowed in a social media post Monday to eliminate mail-in ballots and voting machines such as those supplied by Dominion and other companies. It was unclear how the Republican president could achieve that.

The same judge also handled the Dominion-Fox News case and made a similar ruling that the network repeated numerous lies by Trump’s allies about his 2020 loss despite internal communications showing Fox officials knew the claims were bogus. At the time, Davis found it was “CRYSTAL clear” that none of the allegations was true.

Internal correspondence from Newsmax officials likewise shows they knew the claims were baseless.

“How long are we going to play along with election fraud?” Newsmax host Bob Sellers said two days after the 2020 election was called for Biden, according to internal documents revealed as part of the case.

Newsmax took pride in not calling the election for Biden and, the internal documents show, saw a business opportunity in catering to viewers who believed Trump won. Private communications that surfaced as part of Dominion’s earlier defamation case against Fox News also revealed how the network’s business interests intersected with decisions it made related to coverage of Trump’s 2020 election claims.

At Newsmax, employees repeatedly warned against false allegations from pro-Trump guests such as attorney Sidney Powell, according to documents in the lawsuit. In one text, even Newsmax owner Chris Ruddy, a Trump ally, said he found it “scary” that Trump was meeting with Powell.

Dominion was at the heart of many of the wild claims aired by guests on Newsmax and elsewhere, who promoted a conspiracy theory involving deceased Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez to rig the machines for Biden. The network retracted some of the more bombastic allegations in December 2020.

Though Trump has insisted his fraud claims are real, there’s no evidence they were, and the lawsuits in the Fox and Newsmax cases show how some of the president¶¶Òőap biggest supporters knew they were false at the time. Trump’s then-attorney general, William Barr, said there was no evidence of widespread fraud.

Trump and his backers lost dozens of lawsuits alleging fraud, some before Trump-appointed judges. Numerous recounts, reviews and audits of the election results, including some run by Republicans, turned up no signs of significant wrongdoing or error and affirmed Biden’s win.

After returning to office, Trump pardoned those who tried to halt the transfer of power during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and directed his Department of Justice to investigate Chris Krebs, a former Trump cybersecurity appointee who had vouched for the security and accuracy of the 2020 election.

As an initial trial date approached in the Dominion case earlier this year, Trump issued an executive order attacking the law firm that litigated it and the Fox case, Susman Godfrey. The order, part of a series targeting law firms Trump has tussled with, cited Susman Godfrey’s work on elections and said the government would not do business with any of its clients or permit any of its staff in federal buildings.

A federal judge put that action on hold, saying the framers would view it as “a shocking abuse of power. ”

Judge Nina Y. Wang, of the U.S. District Court in Denver, found attorneys Christopher I. Kachouroff and Jennifer T. DeMaster when they filed a motion that featured numerous errors, including misquotes from caselaw and citations from nonexistent cases.

Kachouroff acknowledged using generative artificial intelligence to draft a motion during a pretrial hearing after the mistakes were found.

Kachouroff initially argued that the error-ridden motion was filed by mistake. However, the version that Kachouroff said was the correct one still contained “substantive errors,” including some that weren’t in the filed version of the motion, and it had timestamps that did not align with his claims, Wang found.

She said “contradictory statements and the lack of corroborating evidence” failed to persuade her that the AI-assisted filing was an inadvertent error, versus sanction-worthy negligence.

The judge also found Kachouroff’s responses, in which he tried to shift responsibility and suggested that the court attempted to “blindside” him over the errors, “troubling and not well-taken.” As Wang sought to determine if the AI-assisted motion was filed out of simple human error or was sanction-worthy, she wrote that neither Kachouroff nor DeMaster provided the court with “any explanation as to how those citations appeared in any draft of the Opposition absent the use of generative artificial intelligence or gross carelessness by counsel.”

Wang wrote that “this Court derives no joy from sanctioning attorneys who appear before it.” She settled on the $3,000 fines as “the least severe sanction adequate to deter and punish defense counsel in this instance.”

Kachouroff and DeMaster did not immediately return requests for comment Monday.

Lindell is not liable for the fines. Last month, he and his media company, FrankSpeech, were ordered to pay $2.3 million to Eric Coomer, the former director of security for Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, after the jury returned its verdict. Lindell, one of the most prominent pushers of the conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, had called Coomer “treasonous” and accused him of committing crimes.

Re: “A common cause: What would it actually take to force Trump to resign?” June 22 commentary

Using the example of a protest in Puerto Rico (with a population less than 1% of the U.S. total), where more than 1 million people protested for days and nights, banging “pots and pans” over what they felt were “disgusting messages,” is a poor example to use when calling for millions of Americans to protest over illegal migrant rights in our country.

That aside, as a moderate independent voter, I find it disturbing that a major newspaper editor would call a sitting president “a danger to our economy, a threat to our freedoms, an ally to our enemies and a constant source of lies and misinformation.” That language, combined with the intent to incite millions of Americans to take to the streets by calling for a protest over a controversial political position (that millions of conservatives support), is dangerous given the extremely polarized politics we have today.

One may want, and even call for, a “peaceful” protest, but realistically we cannot expect millions of Donald Trump supporters, who voted him into office, to idly stand by and not counter-protest. Riots, destruction, injuries, and deaths would seem inevitable.  And, at the end of the day, does anyone really believe that a protest, such as Megan Schrader calls for, would actually convince Trump to resign?

Jim Malec, Roxborough Park

I read the article Sunday about what it might take to peacefully depose President Donald Trump. Finding a “core value” right now in the United States would be very difficult. Using Puerto Rico’s demonstrations doesn’t seen to rise to the level we need. It is a small island with nothing like the population of the mainland United States.

A small island could easily find core values and share them among one another. They are small. We are large.

Do you think book burning would do it? No, we’ve already had that. How about bodily autonomy? Nope, we had it and didn’t like it. First and Fifth Amendment rights are gone, folks. Voting rights are being erroded. How about a full-blown concentration camp? Been there, done that at Amache in Colorado during WWII. Perhaps gas chambers? What stopped the Nazis from destroying Europe? The violent intervention of the U.S. armed forces. What kept the Confederate states from forming their own country? The violent Civil War fought to keep our nation whole.

I don’t think we have any core values any longer. I’m definitely not advocating for another civil war, but I’m not sure banging drums and pans outside Mar-a-lago is going to solve our problem. Our democracy is great, but can we keep it?

Betty Green, Colorado Springs

“No King’s Day” was a representation of liberals as self-absorbed, ideological and self-deluded. Liberals who suck at the teat of a pathetic liberal mouthpiece like The Denver Post are nothing more than useful idiots to the left ideology. They’ve been indoctrinated by left-leaning schools, woke companies and liberal news outlets. Donald Trump a king? Give me a break. Trump is the only thing keeping this country from descending into a socialistic, pathetic shadow of itself.

Thank you, Jack, from Aurora, and Kay, from Denver. The military parade celebrating our armed forces was awesome, and the “No Kings” protests were pathetic.

Scott Gardner, Aurora

Just a correction: the author wrote, “a man who took office with the support of a majority of American voters…”

In fact, Trump did not win with a majority of the votes. Less than 50% of the voters marked his name on the ballot. More people voted for someone else than voted for Trump, by about 500,000 votes.

Fred Waiss, Prairie du Chien, Wis.

When both sides agree to be angry with the messenger

Re: “Readers question coverage of “No Kings” protests and Trump’s parade celebrating Army,” June 22 letters to the editor

After reading the Open Forum letters criticizing The Post for its coverage of the military parade and the “No Kings” protests, I think you should be proud of your reporting. Ticking off both sides of this issue means you’re doing something right.

Steve Titus, Boulder

Skilled reporter retains excellence, even as Rockies falter

Re: “Owner, now sober, says Rox need fresh eyes,” June 22 sports story

Patrick Saunders just anchored himself as the best sports journalist in the Rocky Mountain region with his news-breaking article and interviews with Charlie and Dick Monfort. Not only did Saunders obtain an interview with the Monforts — which no one else has done during this abysmal Rockies’ season — but he presented the information with journalistic integrity, objectivity, and honesty.

It is rather unfortunate that Saunders has been relegated to doing most of the beat coverage of the Rockies during this stretch of bad baseball, but his reporting and weekly analysis is always spot-on while never pulling punches, as it were. With no quarter to rant on with the opinion columnists, Saunders has been the one voice covering the team that is most reliable, unbiased, yet critically minded about the Rockies’ shortcomings. There is no other local or regional journalist who provides Rockies fans with insight, information, and analysis like Patrick Saunders.

While other local publications often run Associated Press coverage of Rockies games, Saunders provides fans with hometown flavor — despite often being unable to cover road games in person.

What Patrick Saunders has done with his latest piece is award-winning journalism. It represents the best of what he does amidst the troubled times of the team he covers. Kudos to Patrick Saunders. Hopefully, the dreadful baseball he covers does not prompt him to switch to another sport. Rockies fans and the Rocky Mountain Region need him on the baseball beat.

Dan Sage, Centennial

If, indeed, it is difficult to play in Denver because of the altitude, then we should win every home game. The visiting teams do not train here, nor are they used to the mile-high issues.

Shirley Schley, Denver

Colorado Republican congressional delegation all in on harming vulnerable citizens

Re: “Tax bill: Report: 6 rural hospitals in state could close,” June 22 news story

In her article, writer Meg Wingerter addressed the appalling possibility of Colorado losing six rural hospitals should the Republicans’ so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” be approved as is by the Senate. She did an excellent job explaining how this would impact thousands of Coloradans. She did not mention that all of Colorado’s Republican congressional representatives voted “Yes” on this bill — demonstrating their willingness to rip health care from the most vulnerable and their utter disregard about the impact of doing this — oh, and add billions of dollars to the U.S. deficit along the way.

But in her article, Wingerter referred to the “left-leaning” Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and their analysis of the bill’s impact. I cannot help but wonder why that descriptor was needed. Was this to suggest that they couldn’t be trusted, that their analysis was somehow “tainted?” And does that mean that The Denver Post will continue to use the description “left-leaning” and its corollary, “right-wing” in all articles? If so, why isn’t this damaging bill described as “right-wing”?

Christine Soto, Denver

When will majority of GOP admit 2020 election results?

Re: “Lindell now owes Dominion executive $2.3 million for his lies, but his con continues,” June 22 commentary

Rarely have I agreed with Krista Kafer, but it is for that reason that I am responding to her “Election lies” column in last Sunday’s Perspective section of The Denver Post.

Even today over half the Republican Party still believes the 2020 presidential election was stolen by Joe Biden. In they are trying to add that theory to the curriculum they are teaching their students.

Christopher Krebs, whose job, among others, was to make sure the 2020 election results were fair, actually for daring to speak up, saying the 2020 election was one of the most accurate elections in the history of our country.

Even as Donald Trump has started his second term in office, he continually says he won the 2020 election.

Mike Lindell, the “My Pillow Guy,” recently lost a defamation suit against Eric Coomer, the former security director for Dominion Voting Systems. Rather than be contrite, he doubled down on his lie.

When are the majority of Republicans going to finally acknowledge that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and move on? Only then can this country start to heal.

The “No Kings” protests were a start. Let¶¶Òőap hope it is only the beginning and we truly start to believe the emperor has no clothes because he truly doesn’t.

David Shaw, Highlands Ranch

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

Monday, a federal jury found Lindell and his media platform, FrankSpeech, guilty of defaming Eric Coomer, the former security and product strategy director for Dominion Voting Systems.

Lindell accused Coomer of being a traitor, a criminal, and “part of the biggest crime this world has ever seen” by helping to steal the 2020 election for Joe Biden with sabotaged voting machines. These lies harmed Coomer’s reputation, career, safety, and health. Because the jury did not award Coomer the full $62.7 million he requested, Lindell is spinning the loss as a victory.

This isn’t the first time Lindell has paid for pedaling deception. Back in 2021 he challenged computer experts to prove that his 2020 election data were false. When the “Prove Mike Wrong” contest did just that, Lindell refused to pay the winner until an arbitration panel forced him to pony up.

Undeterred, Lindell has continued to push preposterous and thoroughly debunked claims about the election. He’s been using the defamation trial to hawk his wares on social media. In addition to pillows, buyers can get their very own replica of Lindell’s always prominently displayed cross necklace for the low, low price of $249.98 (half off with promo code JURY).

Like an ’80s televangelist, Lindell is a pro at exploiting religion to bilk the gullible. In addition to sales, he’s raised more than $362,000 so far through crowdfunding to support his case, which he’s appealing.

Since it¶¶Òőap a civil not a criminal case, the Trump administration cannot issue a get-out-of-justice-free card like it did for the January 6 convicts or like it is trying to do for fellow election conspiracy theorist Tina Peters.

Lindell could, however, seek a job with the Trump administration. Lack of competence is no barrier. It might, like loyalty and lack of scruples, be a requirement. Dave Williams, the former Colorado GOP chairman who destroyed what remained of the state party’s credibility, recently got a job with the Commerce Department. Perhaps Lindell can join him or at the very least land a multi-million dollar federal contract for pillows.

It¶¶Òőap small consolation to know Lindell is not the only limelight-seeker to pay damages. One America News, Sidney Powell, and Newsmax settled with Coomer. Perhaps as a prelude to a settlement, Salem Media just issued another apology for allowing Colorado podcaster Joe Oltmann to voice false statements about Coomer on air. Oltmann claimed he heard Coomer on an Antifa conference call say he was going to throw the election to Biden. Coomer is likely to prevail in his defamation case against Oltmann.

Nevertheless, Oltmann spent the past the week badmouthing the judge and the plaintiff. Perhaps his attorney should familiarize him with the concept of defamation and court proceedings generally. It¶¶Òőap costing him. A federal appeals court just upheld a district court¶¶Òőap $1,000-per-day sanction ruling against Oltmann for skipping out on his court deposition.

In the end though, no amount of money from these con men can make up for what Coomer has endured the past four years. Election lies ruined his life, shattered his reputation, and made him the target of death threats. That can never be paid back.

Krista Kafer is a Sunday Denver Post columnist.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

The jury ruled that Lindell and his media company, Frankspeech, must pay $2.3 million in damages for his attacks on Eric Coomer, the former director of security for Denver-based Dominion. The jury found that three of the 10 cited attacks leveled by Lindell or published on his platform amounted to defamation.

Coomer sued Lindell in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado in April 2022. He alleged the MyPillow CEO, a prominent backer of President Donald Trump and the president¶¶Òőap false claims that he won the 2020 election, defamed him when he called him a traitor, and claimed to have proof — in effect, directly accusing Coomer of committing a crime.

Coomer said Lindell’s attacks led to severe emotional and physical distress, death threats and the loss of his career in election security. Coomer had asked for more than $2 million in economic damages and another $60 million in non-economic and punitive damages.

Charles J. Cain, one of Coomer’s attorneys, said after the verdict that there were “mixed emotions in the sense that he’s been through a lot, and he’s still going to be looking over his shoulder even after this one.”

He added that he hopes the jury’s findings serve as a deterrent against election workers being targeted, but acknowledged, “We don’t believe this will stop the conspiracy theories.”

Lindell, in a scrum with media after the verdict, called the lawsuit “lawfare” and pledged to appeal. He emphasized that the jury found several of the statements in the case were not defamatory and that his most prominent company, MyPillow, was found not guilty of defamation.

“It¶¶Òőap a huge breakthrough about free speech and my First Amendment right,” Lindell said.

He also said he didn’t plan to stop commenting on election security.

“I will not stop talking until we don’t have voting machines in this country,” Lindell said.

During closing arguments last week, Lindell’s attorneys rebutted the defamation claim by saying Lindell believed the allegations he was making, and that it was protected speech under the First Amendment. Defense attorney Jennifer DeMaster accused Coomer and his attorneys of acting as a “ministry of truth” that sought to police criticism.

“The only thing that matters is if Mr. Lindell believes these things are true,” DeMaster said during closing arguments. “That is the crux. That is the only thing that matters when it comes to our beloved First Amendment.”

Cain countered that Lindell stepped further than criticism of the government with his specific claims that Coomer committed treason and that he had evidence of such crimes.

“(Coomer) was accused of a crime — not an alleged crime, as you see on the TV news broadcast, an actual crime. And (with the suggestion) that there was evidence for that crime,” Cain told the jury in closing remarks Friday. “That is defamation.”

Lindell has pleaded poverty during the trial and claimed he spent his fortune hunting for evidence of election fraud and defending legal cases related to his accusations. After the verdict, he said he is “millions in the hole.” 

False claims of election rigging led to several high-profile lawsuits and big-dollar settlements. Fox News from Dominion for $800 million. The right-wing media organizations and each settled separate defamation lawsuits filed by Coomer.

“(Plaintiff Eric Coomer) was accused of a crime — not an alleged crime, as you see on the TV news broadcast, an actual crime. And (with the suggestion) that there was evidence for that crime,” Charles J. Cain, an attorney for Coomer, told the jury in closing remarks Friday. “That is defamation.”

Coomer, who lives in Colorado, sued Lindell in April 2022, alleging the MyPillow CEO defamed him. He said Lindell’s personal attacks tying him to false claims of election fraud caused severe distress and cost him his career in election security. 

The trial began in U.S. District Court in Denver on June 2. On Friday, after closing arguments, the jury began deliberating about 2 p.m. and had not yet returned a verdict by early evening; it’s likely the deliberations will continue Monday.

Lindell has repeatedly tied Coomer to unfounded claims related to 2020 and said he belongs in prison. Lindell also hosted a “Cyber Symposium” in 2021, where he brought on Colorado podcast host Joe Oltmann. Oltmann had previously accused “Eric, the Dominion guy” of working with “antifa” to swing the election in favor of Democrat Joe Biden to defeat then-President Donald Trump. Oltmann specifically named Coomer at the symposium.

Coomer’s attorneys argued that the example, and other instances of Lindell elevating conspiracy theories that targeted Coomer, amounted to publishing defamatory statements.

“The defendants didn’t just act with reckless disregard, they acted with no regard as to who they were going to put on stage and what they were going to say,” Cain said.

Lindell’s attorneys countered Friday that the defendant sincerely believed the claims he was making. Attorney Jennifer DeMaster also accused Coomer and his lawyers of acting as a “ministry of truth” that was trying to police free speech.

“All of the evidence in this case points to one unassailable truth: Mike Lindell was a man in pursuit of the truth about the 2020 election,” DeMaster said. “… We don’t need a Ph.D in computer science to criticize our government function. And what government function is more vital than the right to vote?”

Cain challenged the idea that earnest belief is a defense against defamation.

Lindell has accused Coomer of engaging in “lawfare,” or using the courts to silence him and sap his bank account. He has testified to losing millions of dollars since launching his crusade against voting machines.

The false election claims have prompted several other lawsuits. Denver-based Dominion, Coomer’s former employer, against Fox News for more than $800 million. Coomer also with the rightwing media outlet Newsmax in 2021 that included a public retraction and apology.

In this case, Coomer is asking for Lindell to retract all defamatory statements and has asked for $2.7 million in economic damages, $20 million in noneconomic damages and $40 million in punitive damages, with Lindell to be personally on the hook for half and the rest to be split evenly between MyPillow and Frank Speech, Lindell’s media company.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Lindell also continued his attacks against Eric Coomer, the former Dominion Voting Systems executive, even as he sought to distance himself from claims that he specifically coordinated attacks against Coomer at a 2021 convention Lindell organized about the conspiracy theory.

Lindell attacked Coomer as merely seeking money and grinding a political ax.

“(I) cost Dr. Coomer what?” Lindell said in response to a question from one of Coomer’s attorneys. “He’s out there suing people for money.”

Coomer filed suit against Lindell in April 2022. He accused Lindell of defaming him in a series of statements and media appearances, causing emotional and physical distress and costing him his career in election security.

Lindell has accused Coomer of treason and said he belongs in jail for being “part of the biggest crime this world has ever seen.” Lindell doubled down on his attacks against Coomer from the witness stand — but argued many of the more salacious statements were because Coomer sued him and Lindell was angry about the “lawfare.”

However, Coomer notes in his lawsuit that Lindell tied him to wider conspiracies about Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems and called him “treasonous” as early as May 2021.

An attorney for Lindell, upon cross-examination, asked if Lindell was perhaps being hyperbolic with some of his rhetoric. Lindell responded that, “In my mind, it’s pretty big. Now, if that¶¶Òőap hyperbole, that’s subjective, I suppose.”

Coomer accuses Lindell of parroting remarks that started with Colorado-based podcaster Joe Oltmann and broadcasting them to a wider audience. Oltmann accused “Eric, the Dominion guy” of coordinating with forces opposed to President Donald Trump to deny his reelection in 2020.

Oltmann repeated the statements during a panel at Lindell’s “Cyber Syposium” that was held in South Dakota in August 2021. On the stand Monday, Lindell sought to distance himself from Oltmann’s statements then. Lindell said he had lost his voice, and left the organizing of the Oltmann’s panel to other people.

“Who put them up there, to this day, I could not tell you,” Lindell said.

“So that’s another thing you’re not taking responsibility for,” Coomer’s attorney, Charles J. Cain, said. “You’re not taking responsibility for what you’ve done to Dr. Coomer, and you’re not taking responsibility for who got up on your stage.”

Coomer’s lawsuit is being heard by a jury in U.S. District Court in Denver. Coomer is asking for a retraction of all defamatory remarks made by Lindell and monetary damages.

Dominion has filed its own series of lawsuits over allegations it rigged the 2020 election against Trump. The company settled one lawsuit with for nearly $800 million.

Coomer has accused Lindell of seeking to profit from his alleged defamation. His legal team cited examples of him offering promo codes associated with election fraud claims, including this case.

Lindell said his pillow company is on “the razor’s edge” in the fallout of him becoming the face of election fraud and that he now has to borrow money to make payroll.

Testimony resumes Tuesday, and the trial is expected to continue through this week.

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 2020 presidential election. Coomer, who filed the suit in April 2022, is seeking damages from Lindell for the physical and emotional distress that attorneys say resulted from Lindell’s false claims.

Dominion has filed its own string of lawsuits to combat unproven allegations that it was involved in rigging the 2020 election against President Donald Trump. The company with Fox News for nearly $800 million.

In addition to Dominion, election deniers targeted Coomer after Colorado-based podcaster Joe Oltmann publicly identified “Eric, the Dominion guy.” Lindell, Coomer contends, regurgitated and elevated Oltmann’s claims to a wider audience.

“This is more than a mere insult to (Coomer),” Charlie Cain, one of Coomer’s attorneys, said in court Tuesday. “This was about severe distress and fearing for his life for the last four years.”

Cain said Lindell’s claims were “extreme and outrageous.” He displayed a threatening text message Coomer received, and he said 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 in April 2021.

Shortly after, Lindell accused Coomer of treason and said he should turn himself in to authorities.

Lindell’s attorneys, meanwhile, argued to the jury Tuesday that Lindell made the claims against Coomer because he believed them — and because Lindell had been intentionally baited by Coomer.

Attorney Chris Kachouroff said 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 said, 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 said that was Coomer’s goal, and Kachouroff quoted an email and text from Coomer about wanting to sue Lindell.

More fundamentally, Kachouroff said, Lindell believed the debunked claims he made about the 2020 election.

“Evidence will show that Mike believed he was telling the truth, that he believed they were truthful at the time he made them, and the First Amendment protects him,” Kachouroff said.

He argued that Coomer’s professional reputation had suffered because Coomer’s own anti-Trump Facebook posts came to light, not because of claims 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 team of attorneys a few feet from Coomer, is expected to testify in his own defense. MyPillow, the company he founded in 2009, 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.

That is how his conduct is characterized in a lawsuit brought by Eric Coomer, a Colorado resident and former director of product strategy and security for Dominion Voting Systems. Coomer alleges that Lindell and his companies have “gone out of their way to target” Coomer in their pursuit of the repeatedly debunked conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from President Donald Trump when he lost to Joe Biden.

Coomer filed his in Denver District Court in April 2022, and it was later transferred to federal court. The suit says Coomer was defamed by Lindell and suffered severe emotional and physical distress as a result.

The trial is set to last two weeks, with opening arguments set for Tuesday morning. U.S. District Court Judge Nina Wang is overseeing the case. Monday was largely relegated to jury selection, as attorneys for each side sought to suss out bias by prospective jurors.

Questions included where jurors get their news, which social media platforms they use, if they have negative feelings about Trump or his Make America Great Again movement, and their opinions of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and of Lindell’s company, MyPillow.

Following Trump’s 2020 election loss, Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, that supplies equipment to many counties, became central to a conspiracy theory positing that the election was rigged against Trump.

Dominion, as a company, has filed multiple lawsuits over allegations that it was involved in election rigging. It settled one lawsuit against Fox News for . The conspiracists specifically after Colorado podcaster Joe Oltmann named “Eric, the Dominion guy” on his program.

Lindell, a Trump ally and media figure, then ran with the allegations on his platforms, according to Coomer’s lawsuit.

Coomer said he can no longer work in the election industry, after more than 15 years, because of “unwarranted distrust inspired by Defendants’ lies,” according to the lawsuit. Coomer alleges he has faced “frequent credible death threats and the burden of being made the face of an imagined criminal conspiracy of unprecedented scope in American history.”

“(Lindell) has claimed, without evidence, that Dr. Coomer committed treason and that he should turn himself into the authorities,” Coomer’s complaint against Lindell states.

Ahead of the trial’s start, Lindell spoke to supporters and the media on Monday morning. He argued that the lawsuit was “frivolous” and that he had never even heard of Coomer — but he also didn’t step back from his claims about election fraud.

On the courthouse steps ahead of jury selection, he said electronic voting machines should be melted down and turned into prison bars.

“As long as the outcome, whatever it is, leads to getting to paper ballots, hand-counted, like 132 other countries that banned electronic voting machines — if we can get there, I would sacrifice everything. And I have,” Lindell said. “This is the end goal.” 

He also cast the trial as a biblical fight between good and evil. His news conference ended with about two dozen supporters praying over him. Several carried signs calling to “Free Tina Peters,” the former Mesa County Clerk who’s serving time in prison for convictions related to providing unauthorized access to election machines following the 2020 election and giving a security badge to a man associated with Lindell.

Coomer is asking for a retraction of all defamatory remarks made by Lindell and monetary damages.