Trump campaign knew Dominion fraud allegations were untrue, new memo suggests


A memo released Monday night as part of a defamation lawsuit against the Trump campaign suggests campaign officials "were aware early on" that many of their lawyers' election fraud claims against Dominion Voting Systems and election software company Smartmatic were untrue, The New York Times reports Tuesday.
The court papers, initially filed late last week in the suit spearheaded by former Dominion employee Eric Coomer, also indicate the officials were aware of the baseless allegations ahead of the "widely watched" Nov. 19 news conference, during which the campaign's legal team claimed Dominion, Smartmatic, financier George Soros, and Venezuela worked together to steal the election from former President Donald Trump. Even as Sidney Powell "and other lawyers attacked [Dominion] in the conservative media," it appears the campaign just "sat on its findings," per the Times.
The Nov. 14 memo, albeit "hastily assembled," reportedly found: (1) Dominion did not use Smartmatic voting technology in the 2020 election; (2) Dominion had no direct ties to Venezuela or Soros, as was then purported; (3) and there was no evidence Dominion's leadership was connected to left-wing "antifa" activists, as Powell and others also claimed, the Times writes.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"The memo produced by the Trump campaign shows that, at least internally, the Trump campaign found there was no evidence to support the conspiracy theories regarding Dominion," wrote lawyers for Coomer, the former Dominion employee.
It is unclear if Trump himself ever saw the memo; "still, the documents suggest that his campaign's communications staff remained silent about what it knew of the claims against Dominion at a moment when the allegations were circulating freely." Read more at The New York Times.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
Millions turn out for anti-Trump ‘No Kings’ rallies
Speed Read An estimated 7 million people participated, 2 million more than at the first ‘No Kings’ protest in June
-
Conservative megadonors build a new bank thanks to Trump administration approval
IN THE SPOTLIGHT With a Lord Of The Rings-inspired name, and the backing of some of the biggest GOP financiers around, Erebor Bank is set to make major waves in the crypto world
-
DOJ indicts John Bolton over classified files
Speed Read Continuing the trend of going after his political enemies, Trump prosecutes his former national security adviser
-
Trump, Putin set summit as Zelenskyy lands in DC
Speed Read Trump and Putin have agreed to meet in Budapest soon to discuss ending the war in Ukraine
-
Courts deal setbacks to Trump’s Chicago operations
Speed Read President Donald Trump cannot deploy the National Guard in Illinois
-
‘The illusion of wealth can encourage people to take on more debt’
instant opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Pentagon reporters turn in badges after refusing rules
Speed Read They refused to sign a restrictive new press policy imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
-
Supreme Court points to gutting Voting Rights Act
speed read States would no longer be required to consider race when drawing congressional maps