Voting Machines Employee Sues Trump Campaign Over Election Fraud Claims

An employee of a voting systems company has sued the Trump re-election campaign, its lawyers and media organizations for defamation after he was thrust to the center of a voter fraud conspiracy that has forced him into hiding due to death threats.

Eric Coomer of Dominion Voting Systems filed the lawsuit in a Denver district court on Tuesday in an effort to "unwind as much of the damage as possible done to me, my family, my life and my livelihood as a result of the numerous false public statements that I was somehow responsible for 'rigging' the 2020 presidential election," he said in a statement.

Coomer is the director of product strategy and security at Dominion, which has been the subject of numerous failed lawsuits attempting to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's election win last month.

According to the lawsuit, he became embroiled in the right-win conspiracy targeting the company when Joseph Oltmann, a business owner and podcast host, claimed without providing evidence he had listened on a call of supposed antifascists who said "'Eric from Dominion' would ensure the election went to President-elect Biden."

Oltmann then said, according to the court document, that he heard someone identified as Eric from Dominion stating he would ensure Biden would win the election.

Coomer's lawyers said in the court document that their client has no knowledge of a so-called "Antifa Conference Call" and did not participate in one.

The lawsuit Tuesday names President Donald Trump's re-election campaign, his lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudolph Giuliani, Oltmann and several conservative media organizations, including One America News Network and Newsmax media, as defendants for disseminating the claim.

"Defendants relied heavily upon false allegations made by Joseph Oltmann, a politically motivated individual, business owner and podcast host, to support their conspiracy theory," the lawsuit states, adding the defendants "widely disseminated this false narrative."

The lawsuit says Eric Trump, the president's son, tweeted a photo of Coomer that was accompanied by the conspiracy theory and Giuliani named Coomer in a nationally televised press conference, calling him "a vicious, vicious man."

"The widespread dissemination of false conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election has had devastating consequences both for me personally and for many of the thousands of American election workers and officials, both Republican and democratic, who put aside their political beliefs to run free, fair and transparent elections," Coomer said. "Elections are not about politics; they are about accurately tabulating legally cast votes."

The lawsuit accuses the defendants of making Coomer "the face of their false claims," and of knowingly circulating and amplifying the conspiracy theory to challenge the integrity of the presidential election.

"Why this theory has been thoroughly rejected, its immediate and life-threatening effects remain very real," the lawsuit states. "The deluge of misinformation has cause immense injury to Dr. Coomer's reputation, professional standing, safety and privacy."

Coomer's lawyers have requested a jury to decide the case, in which they seek an injunction against the defendants to remove any publication made about their client and damages.