The press conference held by the Trump legal team was not for the faint of heart. The team alleged a global, Communist-backed conspiracy to “inject” and “change” votes through the use of the Dominion computer system. It was exhausting and breathtaking. I was critical of the press conference as being long on heated rhetoric and short on hard evidence. Dominion issued a statement categorically denying the allegations. The question is whether Dominion itself will now sue. The company denied the allegations but I often measure such denials by whether anyone actually sues. Dominion could do so and force the Trump team to reveal the evidence supporting their allegations or face potentially significant liability. These are not just colorful but criminal allegations against named companies and by implication corporate officials and political allies.
Trump campaign counsel repeatedly accused Dominion and its officers of criminal conduct and business improprieties. Those are categories of “per se defamation” under the common law. No special damages must be shown in such per se cases. Individual officers could bring defamation claims and the company itself could bring a business disparagement action.
“One who publishes defamatory matter concerning a corporation is subject to liability to it
(a) if the corporation is one for profit, and the matter tends to prejudice it in the conduct of its business or to deter others from dealing with it, or
(b) if, although not for profit, it depends upon financial support from the public, and the matter tends to interfere with its activities by prejudicing it in public estimation.”
Dominion appears to be a company with a Colorado headquarters.
There could be lawsuits in Colorado or the place of the alleged defamation. The lawsuit would likely be filed under state law but moved to federal court under diversity jurisdiction arguments.
The press conference was an explosion of potentially defamatory claims by individuals or companies. The only clear defense is truth. The team insists that it can prove these allegations. It may have to do so. Not only can the individual lawyers face such lawsuits but the Trump campaign itself could be liable under the principle of respondeat superior, where an employer is liable for the conduct of his employees when they are acting within the scope of their employment. Ironically, the Latin term means “let the master speak.” The President or his campaign could be forced to speak in a defamation case if they have not spoken in the promised court filings.
There is a question of privilege for legal claims. There is an absolute privilege for lawyers in making statements in court. That is important because we often voice allegations that impute the veracity or character of parties, particularly in criminal cases. However, that privilege is more limited outside of court. It can still apply but some courts have refused to protect statements made to the press or the public. World Wresting Fed Entertainment, Inc v Bozell, 142 F Supp 2d 514, 534 (SDNY 2001); Kennedy v Cannon, 229 Md 92, 97, 182 A2d 54, 58 (1962).
In other words, if the Trump team does not put forward this evidence in its case challenging the election, it could now be forced to produce it in a case brought by Dominion or its officers.
Interesting. Would people of the stature of Giuliani and Powell put themselves out there for this if they didn’t have the goods? Also, could they have intentionally “defamed” Dominion and throw that out there to see how it sticks? Fun filled number of weeks coming up.
trump should sue Rudy G for what he did today. I have not seen that much flop sweat since Trey Gowdy, And Rudy’s hair dye was running down his face. I’m sure the Dear Leader loved that show.
Fishbreath—-Were you covering the presser for Revlon or L’oreal?
Cindy, can’t Rudy afford to buy hair dye that doesn’t run?
Democracy dyes in darkness.
The question is whether the allegations are true.
GIULIANI: What publication are you with?
Reporter: CNN
GIULIANI (and the audience) burst out laughing
If the purpose is to educate, which is what I truly suspect, then I think Turley raises a valid question; if the purpose is to accurately assess, I think he’s way off base. Sidney Powell is no lightweight and believe me “defamation” here is furthest from her mind; it’s not even a remote concern.
It should be noted how many of the usual Trump attorneys are backing away from joining this “elite” legal team. No sign of Sukelow. Not even Dershowitz. If this were the major international conspiracy they were claiming, there would be a lot more credible lawyers clambering to join this cause, rather than running the other way.
A big firm would not allow its lawyers to make this type of frivolous allegation at a press conference, because they know they could be sued and the firm’s assets would be at stake.
“many of the usual Trump attorneys are backing away from joining this “elite” legal team.”
Try to keep up.
Jonathan has already explained why they have been “backing away”:
https://jonathanturley.org/2020/11/16/the-first-thing-we-do-the-lawless-campaign-to-harass-lawyers-representing-the-trump-campaign/
BTW, Sidney Powell is definitely an elite attorney.
She parked it multiple times in the cheap seats today.
“No sign of Sekulow”? Jay Sekulow is very much involved/per his podcast anyway. He may have not been chosen to lead the team. That may be Syndey Powell’s role. But, I heart on Jay and Jordan’s podcast
It does seem the normal way lawyers make accusations is to file the claims in court and then hold a press conference reporting that they filed the claim. As far as I know, Rudy et al have not filed a case about Dominion in court. So they have no claim to point to. Maybe they will file one next week. But I agree they are opening themselves up to libel. Biden could probably sue too, but probably harder for a candidate to get relief and of course that would open up his whole life to discovery.
They bave probably discussed this point and he doesn’t need needs to open up his whole life to discovery, Just the elections and when I think of the cases that these high-profile attorneys could have accepted and they accepted Trumps case, they probably had a professional moment. Do I accept this case and THE OUTCOME? andPossibly never work again OR BE A LEGACY, or do it not accept and be the butt of a lot of jokes and a cheap suit for a lot of years. Both Guiliani, Powell and now Jay Sekulow are CAUSE Attorneys who are in it to win it. If they didn’t see STRONGLY a path to victory I’m not so sure they would have jumped on board, Powell for sure.
Her voice may have quivered, hell, the press was going to eat her alive and she knew
Her voice was occasionally quivering because she has been threatened repeatedly by the lawyers with the Lincoln Project, and she’s pissed.
IOW, she is trying to suppress her rage.
Rhodes,
Powell’s voice always seems to have a bit of a quiver. Regardless, Democrats and the Left are likely just projecting anyway. If they had no concerns about the legitimacy of the election results, they would be content to allow the process to unfold. Of course their excuse why they can’t do it is more projection; they don’t want Republicans to steal the election. 🙂
Anyone who thinks there’s nothing to this story should volunteer to start Sidney’s car in the morning.
Then there’s that!
And look at all the minions and bots the communist (liberal, progressive, socialist, democrat, RINO) Deep Deep State has sent over to the Turley Blog to do its bidding.
Their slavering, rabid trolls are up and down these threads working furiously to obfuscate and defend the indefensible; to kill the truth.
She has a car? I thought she drove a Kraken?
This is a sign of just how desperate Trump attorneys are getting when the only thing you’ve got is to try to claim that the lost was caused by a computer program, particularly since this program have been used in past elections, are used in various states and have not been found to produce incorrect vote counts.
I think you’re mistaken in the caliber of Ms. Powell. She didn’t sit on the 7th circuit because she was a good liar. She has had other high profile cases (Michael Flynn comes to mind) and if she thought that her client (in this Case, Trump) was grasping at straws, and thus wasn’t his case to lose, she wouldn’t be intimidated by him. She choses to want to help give voice to the millions of people who feel disenfranchised. And anyone who doesn’t notice a difference in the tone of the country since the election (the state and school lockdown, the orders to shelter in place. Just a glimpse of what is to come in the near fututre. A sucessfyl challenge stands to rid of our shackles.
No, , back to Sydney Powell, she”d say, in no uncertain terms, Mr. Pres, how can I tell you this, but it’s not going to happen. We can’t make a case appear without some facts. And we only have suspicions, and SUSPICIONS don’t win law suits, facts do.
Trust me, she has evidence but there is a time when you don’t share your evidence (you have to share it with opposing counsel) but you don’t need to share it with the press. In fact, you’re probably better off NOT sharing with the media who is already disposed against you.
day before the 2016 election Snowden a hero of the people, showed us how easy it is to hack a voting machine
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2138902/cyber-experts-show-how-easy-it-is-to-hack-into-a-us-voting-machine-with-a-24-memory-card/
now the chickens come home to roost
in America the people will have to rise up against the financial overlords, the billionaires, the Silicon Valley plutocrats, and restore popular sovereignty and the rule of law by the ultimate political tool, force
-Saloth Sar
Sidney Powell it’s not the creepy porn lawyer… She has a reputation and she backs up what she says with evidence. As the professor says, let’s see what dominion chooses to do and make up our mindS from there. I’m betting dominion says nothing. Their hope will be that Trump can’t win the election, and the Democrats and Biden will let it slide. That sort of hope seems to be a practice with Democrats.
Powell said that Hugo Chavez rigged the 2020 election. Does she have proof, because he’s been dead for 7 years. So you say she backs things up with evidence?
The Deep Deep State caused John F. Kennedy to lose the election of November 22, 1963.
The Deep Deep State caused Donald J. Trump to lose the election of November 3, 2020.
______________________________________________________________________
CIA “overthrow” operations in South America were brought home for deployment against John F. Kennedy.
Operation PBSuccess
Allen Dulles, director of the CIA during the 1954 coup, and brother of U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles
The CIA operation to overthrow Jacobo Árbenz, code-named Operation PBSuccess, was authorized by Eisenhower in August 1953. The operation was granted a budget of 2.7 million U.S. dollars[f] for “psychological warfare and political action”.[85] The total budget has been estimated at between 5 and 7 million dollars, and the planning employed over 100 CIA agents.[86] In addition, the operation recruited scores of individuals from among Guatemalan exiles and the populations of the surrounding countries.[86] The plans included drawing up lists of people within Árbenz’s government to be assassinated if the coup were to be carried out. Manuals of assassination techniques were compiled, and lists were also made of people whom the junta would dispose of.[85] These were the CIA’s first known assassination manual, and were reused in subsequent CIA actions.[87]
– Wiki
_____
Venezuelan Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems were employed to “fix” foreign elections and they were brought home for deployment against Donald J. Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
“The question is whether Dominion itself will now sue. The company denied the allegations but I often measure such denials by whether anyone actually sues. Dominion could do so and force the Trump team to reveal the evidence supporting their allegations or face potentially significant liability.”
***********************
I’d proofread Supreme Court opinions of Granny Ginsburg in Yiddish to be just a part of that discovery team. Can you imagine all the dirt they’d find on Dominion, their foreign connections, domestic intelligence connections and Big Tech connections. Where do I sign up? I’d do it for free. This is also why any talk of libel/slander is being dismissed right now at the Boardroom level. Libel suits are always about the character of the Plaintiff.
Over 100 employees of Dominion have scrubbed the name from their LinkedIn accounts. The rats are abandoning ship.
Release the Kraken!
I am stunned by these allegations but not surprised. The interruption of the vote count and then the resumption in some democratic controlled jurisdictions where Trump was leading before the count stop, but Biden after, was too bizarre to be random. If there isn’t supporting hard evidence then I can’t imagine why Trump’s legal team would put their credibility and professional reputations on the line when so much is at stake.
I totally agree with your assessment. I know they (defense team) are working very diligently, I just wish they would hurry up. I’m gaining too much weight.
mespo…… Oy! I wish I could fit your comment on a bumper sticker. It’s a mespolitical classic!
Maybe they would like them to sue?
The Smart money says sit back and watch this play out. – Res ipsa loquitur – The thing itself speaks
There is no dishonest tactic I would put past any Democrat. They have become a party of evil. So much was made the other day of that conference call with the Democrats, the one woman yelling they should stop talking about Socialism and defunding the police. I noted she never said she was against those things, only that they should stop talking about them.
Turley, the “team” has been in court where it failed to produce evidence and where Guiliani even said they were not alleging fraud. Why do you act as if they might actually have any evidence?
Great post from Turley, Joe.
This may be relevant to your question:
“What we are really dealing with and uncovering more by the day is the massive influence of communist money through Venezuela, Cuba and likely China and the interference with our elections here in the United States. The Dominion Voting Systems, Smartmatic technology software and software that goes in other computerized voting systems as well, not just Dominion, were created in Venezuela at the direction of Hugo Chavez to make sure he never lost an election after one constitutional referendum came out the way he did not want it to come out. We have one very strong witness who has explained how it all works. His affidavit is attached to the pleadings of Lin Wood and the lawsuit he filed in Georgia.”
https://www.c-span.org/video/?478246-1/trump-campaign-news-conference-legal-challenges
Wish we knew the letter of the exhibit for this witness. Details:
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/18632787/wood-v-raffensperger/
Gee thanks Jonathan. Here’s more news from Georgia:
Trump-Appointed Judge Rejects Lin Wood’s ‘Creative’ Election Lawsuit in Georgia
https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/trump-appointed-judge-rejects-lin-woods-creative-election-lawsuit-in-georgia/
I think the score now is
Trump – 1
The People – 30
ARTICLE III BLACKROBED TYRANTS PROTECT THE PLUTOCRACY
popular sovereignty and rule of law can only be restored by the ultimate tool of politics
“War is simply the continuation of political intercourse with the addition of other means.”
–Carl Von Clausewitz”
Saloth Sar
Mr. Kurtz, why are you hiding behind Saloth Sar?
I read Lin’s Georgia suit and it seemed pretty solid and based on the law. It did not seem “creative”?
I appreciate the update. Unsurprising. Here’s a slightly more detailed account:
https://www.law360.com/articles/1330905
There is no mention of Sidney Powell’s Dominion conspiracy source in either article. The Trump Team must have other plans for this source and for proving its global conspiracy case overall.
Turley tweets: “This is not the time for “opening arguments” but evidence production.”
Meanwhile, Trump has tweeted out timelines of the Wisconsin and Michigan voting dumps that show how, when and why he lost in those two states:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1329602736053252107
Turley tweets: “Giuliani just told Hannity that this was not only a national conspiracy but it had to come from the Biden campaign. He is alleging 2 million stolen votes. This conspiracy theory is overwhelming the specific claims on curing, provisional balloting and other alleged violations.”
WaPo
After a hand recount of roughly 5 million votes cast in the presidential election, Georgia election officials confirmed President-elect Joe Biden received more votes than President Trump in the state.
Georgia’s secretary of state ordered the recount as a part of the risk-limiting audit process to ensure the public’s trust in the outcome of the presidential vote in the state, where Biden led by 12,284 votes, according to the audited results. That resulted in a 0.0099 percent variation from the original margin, they said.
Dominion machines were used in Georgia this election.
“A reminder Wisconsin Republicans prevented election officials from preparing mail ballots for counting in advance of Election Day so Trump could whine about them when the results were reported”
https://twitter.com/ElectProject/status/1329239613001650176
Here is one of the Georgia affidavits, Exhibit F, just a sample of what is being considered:
https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.gand.283580/gov.uscourts.gand.283580.6.6.pdf
Wood lost his suit in GA.
No standing.
No constitutional violation.
Untimely.
Evidence only of isolated issues.
The GA SOS will certify the election tomorrow.
He probably feels the same way many do. The legal team has far too many smart people on board to commit professional suicide by not having evidence.
NOTICE TO EVERYONE ON THIS BLOG!
FYI: Read this.
Joe Friday, your gig is up and you have been exposed.
Steve:
“Joe Friday, your gig is up and you have been exposed.”
***********************************
Thanks, but like that classic line in The Simpsons when Homer is reading the “newsletter” from Ned Flanders, his next door neighbor, who proclaims that Homer’s son, Bart, “Stinks.” We, like Homer react with the monotone “I already knew that.”
I feel your pain Steve, but you can’t just make a wish and then hope the bad man will go away. You’ll have to make sense and win some arguments.
I feel your pain Steve, but you can’t just make a wish and then hope the bad man will go away. You’ll have to make sense and win some arguments.
Something Adam Schiff and the House Democrats have failed to comprehend. Hell, make that the entire Democratic party, the MSM and Lefty’s in this country.
What does the name or phrase “Old Dominion” refer to? I can’t recall.
Old Dominion Freight Lines – Trucking Company also he noun OLD DOMINION has 1 sense: 1. a state in the eastern United States; one of the original 13 colonies; one of the Confederate States in the American Civil War. OLD DOMINION used as a noun is very rare.
The Commonwealth of Virginia is historically known as the “Old Dominion”.
Sydney has a reputation for backing up her claims. Sue away.
Isn’t L Lin Wood and Joe D’Genava part of the team? Sydney’s in good company.
Thanks for your columns. They are an excellent example of unbiassed information working only in the benefit of truth. Being a conservative myself, I so much appreciate your blog, knowing that you are (I believe) left of center politically speaking. I watched a good part of the presser. I was impressed of how profusely Giuliani was sweating. I was disgusted, although not surprised, by the fact that CNN did not carry the press conference. Even if 100% of what was said is composed of false claims, the news item was the Trump campaign’s law team holding the press conference.
And the U.S. Supreme Court should put a stay and continuance on the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
There are 72 million Americans, nearly half of the electorate, whose voices you want to just sweep under the rug (put a stay and continuance on the 2020 U.S. presidential election). Just put a say and let it all play out some other day? Sounds sort of “Fiddle, de dee” I’ll think about that tomorrow.
73 million. voters who have been minimized and again placed in that “basket of deplorables”. Well, this is one Donald Trump supporter who is a fan for reasons that he does what he promises despite the many who dislike him because they’ve been told by the media that he is a racist and misogynist. Use your brain; you’re beginning to sound a lot like Whoopi Goldberg and her ‘suck it up’
You’re an attorney, Sydney Powell is a well-respected attorney. I don’t think you’d make claims that you couldn’t support, nor do I think Sydney Powell would make claims she couldn’t support.
As far as not being given the evidence, it would also dawn on me (and I’m NOT an attorney) that there is a time and a place to be ‘upfront’ with those who want to. know what your evidence is-and this is ‘discovery’ time, when they need to share evidence with Dominion attorneys and NOT to us-just because it would satisfy our curiosity Could that be the case?
As Rudy stated
The evidence is not being put out there because it contains people’s names
For due to threats (as we have already seen on videos) they fear for their safety and their lives
Powell claimed Hugo Chavez rigged the election, he died 7 years ago. I hope she has proof.
“Powell claimed Hugo Chavez rigged the election”
You’re a liar, and you’re really bad at it.
Provide a quote from Powell where she stated that Chavez rigged this election.
What she clearly said was that Chavez and Maduro have used Dominion to rig elections in Venezuela.
When and if you manage to graduate from high school you should focus on mowing lawns.
When and if you stop being a Russian troll you should focus on mowing lawns.