Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow, lost a significant court ruling Friday when a judge rejected his bid to avoid a defamation trial regarding his claims that voting machine company Smartmatic stole the 2020 election.
Lindell will now have to face trial over his statements about Smartmatic and the election.
"Big ruling against Mike Lindell in his bid to stave off a defamation trial over claims that SmartMatic stole the 2020 election," wrote Politico's Kyle Cheney on X. "Judge rules for SmartMatic that the claims by Lindell et all were false and defamatory. All that’s left for trial: actual malice and damages."
In the ruling, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey M. Bryan, an appointee of President Joe Biden, wrote that he disagreed with Lindel's claim that the defamation suit failed because the defamatory statements were "not actionable."
"The Court disagrees. As a matter of law, the Court concludes that, based on the applicable factors, the statements are sufficiently factual in nature to give rise to Smartmatic’s defamation claim," Bryan wrote.
Bryan said he found that no reasonable juror could conclude that any of Lindell's statements about Smartmatic was true.
"Therefore, the Court grants Smartmatic's motion for partial summary judgment on its defamation claim, leaving the issues of malice and damages for trial," he said.
The news comes as Lindell floats a challenge to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. He told the Minnesota Star-Tribune in an interview published Friday that he's about "99% there" in deciding whether to mount a challenge to Walz.