Dominion Voting Systems Sues Rudy Giuliani for $1.3 Billion Over His False 2020 Election Claims
SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Rudy Giuliani
Dominion Voting Systems is suing Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani for $1.3 billion over his false election claims.
The lawsuit was filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Giuliani, the 76-year-old former mayor of New York City, had cited baseless conspiracy theories and made repeated false claims that Trump, his 74-year-old client, had somehow won the 2020 election against President Joe Biden.
In reality, Biden, 78, received more than 81 million votes last November — about seven million more than Trump — and was elected the 46th president this month.
Giuliani and some other members of Trump's legal team made repeated false claims that Dominion voting machines used in some states had manipulated votes — a conspiracy that has been dispelled. In its lawsuit Monday, Dominion refers to Giuliani's repeated claims as the "Big Lie."
"The harm to Dominion's business and reputation is unprecedented and irreparable because of how fervently millions of people believe it," the company's lawsuit reads.
Dominion also sued another of Trump's lawyers, Sidney Powell, for $1.3 billion over her false election claims. That lawsuit was filed earlier this month and is ongoing.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani appear at a news conference on Nov. 19, 2020
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Rudy Giuliani (center) and other Trump campaign lawyers at a November press conference
The election equipment company's lawsuit against Giuliani claims the New York attorney worked "in concert" with Powell and a number of other Trump loyalists who "peddled" falsehoods about the election, causing financial damage to the company.
The company's filing also claims its "founder and employees have been harassed and have received death threats" because of the false election claims, made by Giuliani and others.
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Dominion says it filed the lawsuit against Giuliani to "set the record straight" over Giuliani's conspiratorial claims.
Giuliani did not respond to PEOPLE's attempt to reach him for comment on Monday.
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In addition to Monday's lawsuit, Giuliani's status as an attorney is also under pressure from fellow lawyers in New York.
Last Thursday, Lawyers Defending American Democracy — a nonpartisan national legal group — filed a complaint against Giuliani seeking an investigation into his false claims over the election, asking that his legal license be suspended in the meantime.
More than 4,100 lawyers from across the country signed a letter from the group last month seeking an investigation into Giuliani to have him disbarred over his false election claims.
"A license to practice law is not a license to lie to the public on behalf of a client," the lawyers' letter read, adding, "The conduct of Mr. Giuliani and his colleagues is a disgrace."
