Mike Lindell sees 'My Cousin Vinny' as a blueprint for victory in Dominion lawsuit

12 July 2023

Even right-wing media outlets are nervous about featuring My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell. The far-right MAGA Republican and conspiracy theorist has continued to promote the false and totally debunked claim that Dominion Voting Systems' equipment was used to help now-President Joe Biden steal the 2020 election from then-President Donald Trump. And in light of Dominion's defamation lawsuits against Fox News, Newsmax TV, Lindell and others, they don't want to be sued by Dominion as well.

In April, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million to settle a $1.6 defamation lawsuit. Lindell, however, is still battling Dominion in court.

During an interview with the Daily Beast, the MyPillow CEO insisted that he will prevail in the case and used the 1992 comedy-drama "My Cousin Vinny" (starring Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei) to make his point.

In the film, Perci — with his heavy North Jersey accent — played an Italian-American lawyer defending two young New Yorkers who were wrongly accused of murder in Alabama. The movie humorously and vividly brought out the culture differences between northeastern Italian-Americans and residents of the Deep South.

Lindell told the Beast, "Have you ever seen the movie 'My Cousin Vinny?' Remember at the end when the cop said I took it upon myself to say he found the gun and all this stuff? And the two guys that looked like the (defendants), right? And then, in light of the new evidence, case dismissed. I mean, this is what you're gonna see when all this comes to light with the evidence I have."

Under the U.S. Supreme Court's 1964 ruling in New York Times v. Sullivan, defamation is extremely difficult to prove. Dominion, in its lawsuits against Lindell and others, must show what the Warren Court called "actual malice."

But MAGA claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election have been debunked so many times that Dominion's lawyers believe they have strong cases against the companies and people they are suing. And Fox News obviously decided that the easiest thing to do was pay Dominion $787.5 million and be done with the case.

In an article published on July 11, the Daily Beast's Justin Baragona notes, "The majority of The Daily Beast’s 25-minute conversation with Lindell, of course, centered on his unwavering belief that voting machines flipped millions of votes during the 2020 election. According to Lindell, he isn't trying to overturn any elections, but instead' has 'put over $40 million into helping this country and trying to fix our election platform.' This has resulted in a $1.3-billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems, who allege that Lindell defamed the company with his nonstop campaign to accuse the company of rigging the election with its machines and software."

Baragona adds, "Smartmatic, another voting software company, also has a pending lawsuit against Lindell. However, in Lindell's eyes, he will eventually be vindicated and hailed as a hero when his long-promised evidence of malfeasance finally comes to light via the court system. The Trump-boosting pillow salesman has hosted multiple events over the years in which he vowed to show proof to support his claims, only for experts to decry his so-called evidence as 'bogus' and 'nonsense.'"

The Daily Beast's full report is available at this link (subscription required).

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