Thread by @gabrielmalor

Fed. judge denies motion to dismiss the Dominion defamation lawsuit against Giuliani, Powell, Lindell, and MyPillow. ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_p…

There's a lot going on in here as each of the defendants made different arguments.

Powell was the only one to argue her statements about Dominion were matters of opinion and therefore cannot be defamatory statements of fact. Court says nope.

Powell and Lindell both argued that Dominion failed to allege they made their statements with actual malice (i.e., knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for falsity).

Held: Dominion adequately pleaded actual malice for both, whose claims were inherently improbable.

Powell argued the D.C.-based district court did not have personal jurisdiction over her.

Court: Nope, Powell's representation of Mike Flynn (!!) establishes that she had sufficient connection to D.C.

Lindell also argued the D.C.-based district court did not have personal jurisdiction over him or MyPillow.

Court: Nope, Lindell personally attended three MyPillow-sponsored rallies in D.C. and Trump (!!) endorsed MyPillow at a Rose Garden event.

Judge Nichols is a Trump appointee.

In the course of pointing out that Dominion sufficiently alleged actual malice, the court tweaks Powell a bit for her so-called election experts.

And the court also tweaks Lindell for daring Dominion to sue him after Dominion sent him the retraction letter explaining that he'd been spreading internet garbage.