{"id":115714,"date":"2021-06-02T22:06:47","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T22:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=115714"},"modified":"2021-06-02T22:06:47","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T22:06:47","slug":"fact-check-false-claim-that-rudy-giuliani-sidney-powell-prevailed-in-dominion-lawsuits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/business\/fact-check-false-claim-that-rudy-giuliani-sidney-powell-prevailed-in-dominion-lawsuits\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact check: False claim that Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell prevailed in Dominion lawsuits"},"content":{"rendered":"

The claim: Dominion lost lawsuits against Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell<\/h2>\n

Attorneys for former President Donald Trump\u00a0who claimed Dominion Voting Systems was part of a conspiracy to rig the 2020 election are facing federal defamation lawsuits seeking as much as $1.3 billion in damages.<\/p>\n

Those lawsuits haven\u2019t yet been resolved in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, though, contrary to a Facebook\u00a0post declaring victory for Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.<\/p>\n

The May 31 post said the triumph of the two attorneys over Dominion was \u201cabsent from the news.\u201d It was shared more than 1,000 times, with several commenters celebrating the win.<\/p>\n

A few commenters pointed out they couldn\u2019t find a link confirming the news.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because it isn\u2019t true. Still, users have continued to circulate the false post, in some cases generating as much as 1,000\u00a0additional shares.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Court dockets show no ruling in Giuliani\u2019s and Powell\u2019s requests to dismiss the lawsuits.<\/p>\n

The lawsuits came after Trump and his allies sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, claiming along the way that Dominion was part of a conspiracy to keep Trump from winning a second term.<\/p>\n

Courts have rejected claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, and officials within Trump\u2019s own administration have said the election was \u201cthe most secure in American history.<\/p>\n

The Facebook user who shared the May 31 post did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Defamation lawsuits<\/h2>\n

Dominion filed its defamation lawsuit against Powell on Jan. 8, then followed with a similar lawsuit against Giuliani two weeks later on Jan. 25.<\/p>\n

The lawsuits seek about $1.3 billion in damages for their baseless claims that Dominion rigged the 2020 election against Trump, paving the way for President Joe Biden\u2019s electoral victory.<\/p>\n

Fact check:\u00a0<\/strong>Judge did not rule Dominion Voting Systems machines engineered to yield fraud<\/span><\/p>\n

Dominion voting systems are used in “red and blue jurisdictions” in 28 states, according to the company, but they became the focus of an array of baseless election conspiracies in tightly contested states that were key to Biden’s victory.<\/p>\n

Dominion said in its lawsuit against Giuliani that the former New York City mayor and his allies \u201cmanufactured and disseminated the \u2018Big Lie,\u2019 which foreseeably went viral and deceived millions of people into believing that Dominion had stolen their votes and fixed the election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Powell caused \u201cunprecedented harm,\u201d the company\u2019s attorneys wrote in their lawsuit, in claiming Dominion rigged the 2020 presidential election, the company was created in Venezuela to fix elections for Hugo Chavez and that Dominion bribed officials in Georgia. All those claims are false.<\/p>\n

Their claims built on the foundation Trump himself laid before the election when he said the only way he could lose is if the election was \u201crigged.\u201d\u00a0He went on to claim repeatedly after his loss that that’s what had happened.<\/p>\n

Both Giuliani and Powell have asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuits against them.<\/p>\n

Those requests, however, remained unresolved as of June 1, according to court dockets. Dominion filed opposing a\u00a0dismissal in both lawsuits on May 24.<\/p>\n

Fact check: <\/strong>Dominion voting machines didn’t delete votes from Trump, switch them to Biden<\/span><\/p>\n

In its court filing requesting the lawsuit be dismissed, Giuliani\u2019s attorney argued the court lacked jurisdiction. Powell\u2019s attorneys wrote in a court document that her statements were not facts but opinions she still holds.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo reasonable person would conclude that the statements were truly statements of fact,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n

Dominion spokeswoman Amanda McRae said in an email to USA TODAY that both lawsuits are \u201congoing.\u201d The company also has sued Fox News and MyPillow founder Mike Lindell.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, left, listens to Sidney Powell, both lawyers for President Donald Trump, during a news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters, Nov. 19, 2020, in Washington. (Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, AP)<\/span><\/p>\n

Our ruling: False<\/h2>\n

The claim that Dominion has lost its defamation lawsuits filed against Giuliani and Powell is FALSE, based on our research. Federal court dockets show Giuliani and Powell have asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuits but that they remained unresolved as of June 1.<\/p>\n

Our fact-check sources:<\/h2>\n