Defendant's attorney in Dominion Voting defamation case releases company emails, risking sanctions
An attorney already facing criminal charges for illegally accessing Michigan voting machines says she disseminated documents obtained in discovery in a defamation case filed by a voting machine company
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.An attorney charged with illegally accessing Michigan voting machines after the 2020 election acknowledged in a court filing Monday that she disseminated numerous confidential emails from a voting machine company in a separate case.
In a filing in federal court in Washington, D.C., attorney Stefanie Lambert acknowledged passing on the records from Dominion Voting Systems to “law enforcement.” She then attached an affidavit that included some of the leaked emails and was signed by Dar Leaf, a county sheriff in northern Michigan who has investigated false claims of widespread election fraud from the 2020 election, to a filing in her own case in Michigan. The rest of the documents were posted to an account under Leaf's name on X, the social platform formally known as Twitter.
Lambert obtained the confidential records shortly after joining the legal team of a prominent election denier Dominion is suing for defamation, according to court records. Previously, she had sued unsuccessfully to overturn Trump's 2020 loss and faces a bench warrant in Michigan after missing a March 7 hearing in the voting machine case there. Leaf did not respond to requests for comment.
Lambert had just joined the Dominion defamation case to represent Patrick Byrne, the former chief executive officer of Overstock.com, who has become a major funder of election conspiracy theories. She contended the Dominion documents obtained under discovery were evidence of “crimes” and needed to be disclosed.
Byrne wrote on X that Lambert “signed an NDA, but she found evidence of ongoing crime, and reported it to law enforcement. If she found a severed head in discovery box she had a duty to report it to law-enforcement, too.”
Dominion on Friday filed a motion demanding Lambert be removed from the Byrne case for violating a protective order that U.S. District Court Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya had placed on documents in the case. It said Lambert's disclosure had triggered a new round of threats toward the company, which has been at the center of elaborate conspiracy theories about Trump's loss.
“These actions should shock the conscience,” Dominion wrote in its motion seeking to disqualify Lambert. “They reflect a total disregard for this Court’s orders, to say nothing of the safety of Dominion employees.”
Upadhyaya during a hearing Monday said she had scheduled a subsequent one to determine whether sanctions against Lambert or removing her from the case were appropriate.
Dominion filed several defamation lawsuits against those who spread conspiracy theories blaming its election equipment for Trump's 2020 loss. Fox News settled the most prominent of these cases for $787 million last year.
Dominion's suit against Byrne is one of several the company has filed against prominent election deniers, including MyPillow founder Mike Lindell and attorney Sidney Powell.
___
Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this report.