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MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell dashed off stage during his "Cyber Symposium" moments after news outlets reported a judge had allowed a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit filed against him by Dominion Voting Systems to proceed.
US District Judge Carl J. Nichols also ruled similar lawsuits against former President Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani and pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell could proceed as well.
Video of Lindell rushing from the stage can be seen here:
moments after a federal judge ruled that dominion's lawsuits against mike lindell, sidney powell, giuliani, and others can proceed, lindell himself hustles off stagepic.twitter.com/rNbK4iyFyJ— John Whitehouse+ (@John Whitehouse+) 1628720620
Although there has not been an explicit confirmation that Lindell's exit was directly related to the ruling, the news cast an embarrassing cloud over the event, which Lindell had used to elevate bogus claims about election fraud in the 2020 general election.
The news quickly spread across social media, with many gloating over Lindell's loss in court despite his fervent support for ex-President Trump's "Big Lie" that the election was stolen.
No matter how shitty your day has been, at least you're not on the losing side of an attempt to dismiss a $1.3B lawsuit like Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell & Mike Lindell.\n\nThe Kraken was unavailable for comment.— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@BrooklynDad_Defiant!) 1628724663
Who\u2019s going to be dancing in the streets if Dominion Voting Systems wins their defamation lawsuit against Mike Lindell, Sidney Powell, and Rudy Giuliani?— The Accountant (@The Accountant) 1628734114
A Trump-appointed judge has rejected motions from Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and Mike Lindell to dismiss Dominion\u2019s billion dollar defamation lawsuit against them. The lawsuit will go forward. \n\nAre you tired of all the winning yet?— Erie Siobhan is Vaxxed to the Max \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Erie Siobhan is Vaxxed to the Max \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1628731281
There\u2019s no sweeter karma than Mike Lindell finding out that Dominion\u2019s lawsuit will proceed, right while he\u2019s in the act of spreading the BIG LIE at his cyber symposium— Beki \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Beki \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1628726857
Mike Lindell running off stage moments after a Judge rules against all filings to dismiss the Dominion lawsuit is PRICELESS!— Cindy AZ Girl\ud83d\udc90 (@Cindy AZ Girl\ud83d\udc90) 1628723796
I'm happy to see Dominions' lawsuit for defamation is moving forward. \n\nSidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Lindell should not have 2 nickels to rub together between all of them.— byte me \ud83d\udc79 (@byte me \ud83d\udc79) 1628777413
Others offered further criticism of Lindell and his event.
Have they offered any proof yet or is this a telethon to fund raise and the fake cyber experts the entertainment? Do they have a ticker that shows how much raised/pillows sold like QVC?— Grammaw Cherri (@Grammaw Cherri) 1628725151
Was he running back stage to pull the plug before he further incriminates himself?— Sock Puppet Pundit (@Sock Puppet Pundit) 1628722537
As I was Saying. This week isn't quite going the way Lindell imagined.— Nebhusker84's Ghost is reinstated tomorrow (@Nebhusker84's Ghost is reinstated tomorrow) 1628722863
In February, Dominion Voting Systems sued Lindell for $1.3 billion, arguing that Lindell defamed the company by promoting the baseless conspiracy theory that falsely claimed Dominion conspired with foreign powers to rig voting machines to stop ex-President Trump from winning the 2020 election.
The company seeks more than $651 million in punitive damages as well as a further $651.7 million in compensation from Lindell. Dominion's claim is about four times MyPillow's annual revenue.
The lawsuit was imminent: In January and February, Dominion warned Lindell that they planned to sue him for his role in peddling election disinformation, telling him that he had positioned himself "as a prominent leader of the ongoing misinformation campaign."
Shortly afterward, Lindell toldThe New York Times that he welcomed Dominion's lawsuit:
"I would really welcome them to sue me because I have all the evidence against them. They sent this letter a couple of weeks ago. They're lying, they're nervous because I have all the evidence on them."
Lindell appeared to attempt to draw attention away from the news of his legal defeat earlier Thursday morning as he kicked off the third day of the "Cyber Symposium."
Lindell claimed he'd been the target of an attack near the elevators at his Sioux Falls, South Dakota hotel. He added that another event participant's home had been "raided," though he did not specify which agency had performed the raid.
He did, however, suggest that Dominion and "Antifa" could have been behind both incidents:
"This is where our country's gone. You take away the free speech. So they go after me. And they're going, 'Well, we try and crush his company and take everything from him.' And then they go after [me] physically."
"Now I've got to go around with a bodyguard. And I don't like bodyguards. I like to have American freedom to drive around, to do what I want, to not worry, to be able to take pictures with people."
Mike Lindell was choked up opening the final day of his \u201csymposium,\u201d claiming that he was \u201cattacked\u201d at his hotel last night. He later claimed it was \u201cAnifa,\u201d but gave no details.pic.twitter.com/OAdfBzngLU— Ron Filipkowski (@Ron Filipkowski) 1628782135
Lindell did not provide more details or evidence to back up any of his claims, but that's probably why he's the target of a defamation lawsuit.