MyPillow founder defamed Smartmatic with false claims on voting machines

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MINNEAPOLIS — MyPillow founder Mike Lindell defamed the election technology company Smartmatic with false statements that its voting machines helped rig the 2020 presidential election, a federal judge in Minnesota ruled Friday.

But U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan deferred until future proceedings the question of whether Lindell — one of the country’s most prominent propagators of false claims that the 2020 election was a fraud — acted with the “actual malice” that Smartmatic still needs to prove to collect any damages.

The judge said there are “genuine fact disputes” as to whether Lindell’s statements were made “with knowledge that they were false or made with reckless disregar