Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani is asking a judge to toss the $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit brought against him by Dominion Voting Systems for his repeated attacks on the company that fueled his false claims about the November 2020 presidential election being rigged.
In the motion to dismiss filed Wednesday, Giuliani’s attorney, Joe Sibley wrote that his client denies having “defamed plaintiffs or that he has engaged in any wrongful or malicious conduct toward plaintiffs.”
Sibley also argued that the case should be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, and because the company has not adequately justified its request for money damages.
“Should this matter reach legal or factual adjudication on the merits, Giuliani will provide a vigorous and complete response,” the court filing stated.
Dominion filed the defamation suit against Giuliani in January. The company accused Giuliani of having “manufactured and disseminated” a false conspiracy theory involving the company’s voting machines, to enrich himself.
“Dominion brings this action to set the record straight, to vindicate the company’s rights under civil law, to recover compensatory and punitive damages, and to stand up for itself, its employees, and the electoral process,” the lawsuit says.
Dominion has also filed defamation suits against Sidney Powell and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, both of whom were Trump allies and touted unfounded claims of widespread election fraud.
Powell’s attorneys also tried to dismiss Dominion’s suit last month, arguing that “reasonable people would not accept such statements as fact but view them only as claims that await testing by the courts through the adversary process.”
