Eric Coomer, the security director for Dominion Voting Systems, which supplied vote-counting technology for 28 states in the 2020 presidential election, has been receiving death threats ever since Trump and his enablers started making baseless claims that he helped "rig" the machines to ensure a Biden victory.
Today, Coomer filed a lawsuit against "the Trump campaign, lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, conservative columnist Michelle Malkin, the website Gateway Pundit, Colorado conservative activist Joseph Oltmann, and conservative media Newsmax and One America News Network," reports AP:
His lawyers said Coomer has become "the face of the false claims." Coomer's name first got public exposure in a podcast by Oltmann, who claimed to have heard a strategy call of Antifa activists. When the prospect of a Trump victory was brought up, Oltmann said a man identified as "Eric from Dominion" supposedly said "don't worry about the election, Trump is not going to win. I made … sure of that," adding an expletive.
In an opinion piece written for the Denver Post, Coomer wrote that he has no connections to Antifa, was never on any call and the idea that there is some recording of him is "wholly fabricated."
The fact-checking website Snopes said Oltmann hasn't cooperated in any attempts to verify his claims.
From CPR:
Coomer said the allegations against him began with a conservative Colorado activist and podcaster, Joe Oltmann, who is named in the suit.
Several days after the election Oltmann said that he'd infiltrated an earlier call with Denver-area "Antifa" members and heard a man identified as "Eric from Dominion" say he would make sure Trump wouldn't win the election. According to Oltmann, the man said, "don't worry about the election. Trump is not going to win. I made effing sure of that."
Oltmann has never provided a recording of that call, but the allegation spread rapidly through right-wing social media, making its way to pro-Trump media outlets that are now included in the lawsuit.
Coomer said that conversation never took place and he has no association with left-wing groups.
From CBS 4 Denver:
"Defendants knowingly circulated and amplified a baseless conspiracy theory to challenge the integrity of the presidential election," the lawsuit states.
"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."
"It's a daily thing," Coomer said, "and no, I have not had a decent night's sleep since all of this."
