Eric Coomer, a top employee at Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, filed a defamation lawsuit Tuesday against President Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, the president’s personal attorney, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and the conservative media outlet Newsmax, among others.
The legal action alleges Coomer, who lives in Colorado and serves as Dominion’s director of product strategy and security, has been the target of a false conspiracy that has harmed his reputation and left him facing threats. The lawsuit also accuses the defendants of intentionally inflicting emotional distress against him and seeks unspecified damages and an order barring them from continuing to spread erroneous information.
“Coomer has suffered significant actual and special damages including, without limitation, harm to his reputation, emotional distress, stress, anxiety, lost earnings and other pecuniary loss,” the lawsuit says.
MORE: Read the lawsuit.
In a written statement, Coomer said he filed the lawsuit “in an effort to unwind as much of the damage as possible done to me, my family, my life and my livelihood.” He and his attorneys declined an interview request through a spokeswoman.
Coomer has been baselessly accused of corruption that led to Trump’s 2020 reelection loss. Supporters of the president have falsely claimed that Dominion Voting Systems machines manipulated votes for Democrat Joe Biden.
In recent days Coomer has said that he fears his entire life has been permanently upended. “I am seeing a crisis counselor,” he told the Ark Valley Voice. “My name is toxic because of all these baseless allegations. I don’t know how I recover.”
Coomer said he’s worked in elections for 15 years and never experienced anything like what he has surrounding the 2020 election. Some of the false allegations leveled against him have been shared on social media by Trump. He’s been forced to flee his home and cut ties with family and friends to protect his safety, the lawsuit said.
“And I certainly never expected for a sitting U.S. president to call into question my loyalty to this country, and his children doing the same thing, and his surrogates doing the same thing,” Coomer told the Ark Valley Voice. “I certainly never expected to see the former New York mayor to say my name in conjunction with widespread election fraud.”
Also listed as defendants in the lawsuit are Sidney Powell, an attorney who has represented Trump, and Michelle Malkin, a conservative commentator from Colorado Springs. One America News Network and its correspondent, Chanel Rion, as well as the conservative website Gateway Pundit are also targeted by the legal action.
Joseph Oltmann, a Coloradan who owns Shuffling Madness Media, is also named as a defendant in Coomer’s lawsuit. The legal action claims Oltmann’s false remarks about Coomer have driven much of the alleged conspiracy.
“Defendants knowingly circulated and amplified a baseless conspiracy
theory to challenge the integrity of the presidential election,” the lawsuit says. “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.”
Coomer is referred to as a doctor in the lawsuit because he holds a Ph.D.
The 52-page lawsuit was filed in Denver District Court. Colorado Public Radio was first to report on the legal action.