DENVER — They've been unsuccessful trying to prove the election was rigged, now President Trump's team of lawyers and supporters might have to prove to a Denver judge that they weren't lying.
Eric Coomer, the Director of Product Security and Strategy for Dominion Voting Systems, has filed a defamation and conspiracy lawsuit in Denver District Court.
He's suing Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., and a handful of individuals, including his attorneys Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani and two Colorado conservatives, Michelle Malkin and Joe Oltmann. He's also suing One America News Network (OANN) and Newsmax Media.
Coomer has been in hiding since shortly after Election Day because of threats he's received as an employee of Dominion, which is based in Denver.
"It's just been absolutely horrible. It has completely upended by entire life. My day-to-day life is nothing like it was and probably never will be again," said Coomer.
Coomer was recently interviewed by the Ark Valley Voice in Salida. That interview was shared with Next with Kyle Clark as part of COLab, a network of 20 Colorado newsrooms that share content.
"I am very hesitant to go out in public. I hate to say, that's one upside of the current pandemic is that everybody wears a mask, it's harder to tell who I am," said Coomer.
He did the interview from an undisclosed location because he chooses not to stay at home after receiving threats.
"They've put out my personal address. They have my personal phone. They know what kind of vehicle I drive," said Coomer.
Dominion Voting Systems supplies election equipment, including touch screen voting machines and ballot counters. The company has recently been repeatedly attacked, from local conservatives including Malkin and Oltmann, to as high up as the president, who claimed on Twitter that that company switched hundreds of thousands of votes.
"It's been extremely difficult on my entire family. You know, my father even received a harassing letter in the mail, directly to him, and it was about me and about how I was a traitor and how I was, either, going to be hung or spend the rest of my life in prison," said Coomer. "My father is a decorated war veteran. He served his country in Vietnam. He has, both, a bronze and silver star. He served his country with distinction, and now he's got militia groups sending him harassing letters in the mail about me."
And some of the claims of election fraud don't even have to do with cities and counties that have Dominion equipment.
For example, 62 of Colorado's 64 counties have Dominion equipment. All of Georgia does as well.
The majority of counties in both Pennsylvania and Wisconsin do not.
"If you look at Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, the areas that they focused on for quote-unquote "fraud" aren't even our customers. We don't have Allegheny (County). We don't have Philadelphia. We don't have Milwaukee," said Coomer.
Coomer said that he is seeing a crisis counselor offered through his work, while he is on leave from his job.
"I've experienced everything from anxiety attacks to bouts with depression over the last six to seven weeks," said Coomer.
Now, he's filed a lawsuit about the claims made against him.
"This is not just an attack on me, it really is probably the most severe attack on our Democracy," said Coomer. "While I do worry about my personal safety, I worry about our electoral process."
THE LAWSUIT
Attorneys for Croomer on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Trump’s campaign, as well as other right-wing surrogates and media outlets that have pushed election conspiracies.
The 52-page lawsuit, filed in Denver District Court, alleges they defamed Croomer, invaded his privacy and threatened his family’s safety and security. According to the documents, the defendants did this by spreading a false narrative that Dominion conspired to rig its equipment in favor of now-President-elect Joe Biden.
Per the lawsuit, the defendants relied on allegations made by Oltmann, a Coloradan who pushed a claim on radio station 710KNUS that Coomer is secretly part of Antifa.
Based on the nature of threats Croomer received since then, he had to go into hiding, the lawsuit said:
"Defendants knowingly circulated and amplified a baseless conspiracy theory to challenge the integrity of the presidential election. While this theory has been thoroughly rejected, its immediate and life-threatening effects remain very real. The deluge of misinformation has caused immense injury to Dr. Coomer’s reputation, professional standing, safety, and privacy. Once an esteemed private election technology expert, Dr. Coomer has been vilified and subjected to an onslaught of offensive messages and harassment. In response to multiple credible death threats, Dr. Coomer has been forced to leave his home in fear for his safety. Without concern for the truth or the consequences of their reckless conduct, Defendants branded Dr. Coomer a traitor to the United States, a terrorist, and a criminal of the highest order."
The suit also said the allegations against Croomer were made without evidence. It calls statements from the president's campaign and the other defendants, including OANN and Newsmax, defamatory and negligent.
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