Giuliani Claimed Dominion Voting Systems Was Run By “Communists.” Now, They’re Suing Him For $1 Billion

It’s going to take a little (read: a lot) more than a calendar change and a well-intentioned resolution to turn things around for former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. After apparently melting on camera, unintentionally hosting a press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping, and inciting a deadly insurrection, Giuliani is now being sued by Dominion Voting Systems for $1.3 Billion for his role in pushing what is now being called the “Big Lie” about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. 

Lawyers for Dominion wrote in the defamation lawsuit against the former New York City mayor, “Just as Giuliani and his allies intended, the Big Lie went viral on social media as people tweets, retweeted, and raged that Dominion had stolen their votes,” as reported by CNN. The lawsuit goes on to read, “The harm to Dominions business and reputation is unprecedented and irreparable because of how fervently millions of people believe it.” 

The lawsuit is one of many filed in the wake of the 2020 presidential election and the violent coup attempt on Jan. 6. In December 2020, a Dominion worker sued the Trump campaign for defamation, citing death threats and security risks after Trump and company spread outright lies about Dominion “rigging” the presidential election. Then, on Jan. 8, 2021, Dominion sued former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell for also pushing false claims about Dominion, the 2020 election, and evidence of voter fraud. 

Dominion Voting Systems, founded in 2002, is an electronic voting hardware and software company. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, the company sells voting machines and tabulators in the U.S. and Canada. Dominion enjoyed relative obscurity until it became a major talking point in the Trump administration’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results and subvert the public’s trust in the democratic process. Powell claimed, on several occasions, that Dominion Voting Systems was created by Hugo Chavez to rig the 2020 contest. Chavez, the former president of Venezuela, died in 2013. 

In the defamation lawsuit against Giuliani, lawyers for Dominion noted that “while Giuliani spread falsehoods about Dominion being owned by Venezuelan communists” he did not “make those claims in lawsuits he pushed on behalf of Trump.” The lawsuit also cites Giuliani’s numerous claims that Dominion aided Democrats’ election fraud attempts despite receiving a cease-and-desist letter, as well as his numerous podcast, radio show, YouTube, and network TV appearances on shows like OANN, Fox, and Fox Business — all spent attacking the voting hardware company and labeling them as a key member of a conspiracy to steal the 2020 presidential election from Trump. 

“Giuliani has not retracted his false claims about Dominion, and many of his false and defamatory television and radio appearances and tweets remain available online to a global internet audience,” the lawsuit reads. At the time of publication, Giuliani has yes to issue a statement in response to Dominion’s lawsuit. 

It remains to be seen how successful the billion-dollar lawsuit against Giuliani — or anyone else who played a part in regurgitating the former president’s lies about the 2020 election — will be. But, it should be noted that Giuliani is reportedly worth $45 million, so how the disgraced lawyer could find the means to pay the full amount if he is, in fact, found guilty is a question for the math-minded among us. According to The New York Times, Dominion Voting Systems plans on filing additional lawsuits, and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of bringing litigation against Trump. 

“We’re not ruling anybody out,” Thomas A. Clare, a lawyer representing Dominion, told the Times. “Obviously, this lawsuit against the president’s lawyer moves one step closer to the former president and understanding what his role was and wasn’t.” 

2020 was hardly a banner year for anyone. But if you haven’t been made into the year's biggest meme before being sued for $1 billion, chances are you’re doing great, sweetie!