Posted by bronxcheer on 5/2/2021 5:48:00 PM (view original):
Newsmax apologizes to Dominion worker for false allegations
NEW YORK (AP) — Newsmax apologized on Friday for airing false allegations that an employee for Dominion Voting Systems manipulated machines or tallies on Election Day to the detriment of former President Donald Trump.
Eric Coomer, security director at the Colorado-based firm, in turn dropped Newsmax from a defamation lawsuit.
The conservative news network, in a statement published on its website and to be read on TV, said that while it aired the accusations against Coomer made by Trump's lawyers and supporters, it found no evidence that they were true.
Newsmax, which ran Dominion's denials of the accusations when they were made, also said it had found no evidence that Coomer had spoken to “Antifa” or any partisan organization.
“We would like to apologize for any harm that our reporting of the allegations against Dr. Coomer may have caused to Dr. Coomer and his family,” the network said. He said in his lawsuit that he had gone into hiding because of death threats.
Coomer's lawsuit also targets the Trump campaign, lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, columnist Michelle Malkin, the website Gateway Pundit, Colorado activist Joseph Oltmann and One America News Network. Those claims are continuing, a spokeswoman said.
Neither Newsmax nor a Coomer spokeswoman would comment on whether Coomer was paid anything to drop the company from his lawsuit.
Newsmax also told its audience, many of them Trump supporters that “many of the states whose results were contested by the Trump campaign after the November 2020 election have conducted extensive recounts and audits, and each of these states certified the results as legal and final.”
Did a Dominion Voting Systems Employee Brag About Rigging the Election Against Trump?
Claim
Eric Coomer, director of product strategy and security for Dominion Voting Systems, bragged about rigging the 2020 election against Donald Trump in an antifa conference call.
Rating
Unproven
About this rating
On Nov. 13, the right-wing commentator Michelle Malkin interviewed Colorado businessman Joe Oltmann, who made a number of allegations against Coomer.
Oltmann claimed he had infiltrated local antifa groups in Colorado, and in September 2020 took part in a telephone conference call. He said during that conversation, he heard a man named Eric speak, and another caller referred to him as “Eric, the Dominion guy.” According to Oltmann, another participant in the call asked “What are we going to do if ******* Trump wins,” to which, according to Oltmann, “Eric” replied “Don’t worry about the election. Trump is not going to win, I made ******* sure of that. Hahaha.”
Oltmann also posted what he presented as screenshots from Coomer’s Facebook profile, which he broadly characterized as evidence that Coomer is an antifa adherent or activist who, given his position within Dominion, bragged about taking improper actions to alter the results of the 2020 presidential election, in a phone call with other antifa activists.
Snopes found an “Eric Coomer” Facebook account whose profile picture matched the one Oltmann identified as being owned by the same Eric Coomer who has worked for Dominion, and from which he posted several screenshots. We contacted the person behind the Facebook account and invited them to clarify whether they are indeed the same Eric Coomer who worked at Dominion, and to respond to Oltmann’s allegations. We did not receive a reply.
Twitter permanently suspended Oltmann’s account on Nov. 12. We don’t know whether Oltmann’s allegations against Coomer are accurate or not. If further substantive evidence becomes available, we will update this fact check accordingly. Snopes asked Oltmann whether he had an audio recording of the purported conference call, or if he was joined on that call by another person who could corroborate his claims. Oltmann did not directly respond to those requests.
That doesn’t necessarily mean Oltmann’s claim is false, it just means it is so far not supported by any publicly available evidence beyond his verbal account. On the Nov. 19 episode of the Conservative Daily podcast, Oltmann indicated he had filed a sworn affidavit reiterating his claims. Snopes requested a copy of that affidavit, as well as details of the court to which it was purportedly submitted, and the case to which it was purportedly attached. Oltmann did not respond to that request.
It’s also not clear whether Coomer’s alleged remarks, if they did take place, were made in earnest, and therefore whether they should be interpreted as proof of election meddling. Oltmann told Malkin he had heard Coomer laughing after allegedly bragging about interfering in the election (“Trump is not going to win, I made ******* sure of that. Hahaha.”)
Furthermore, even if Coomer made the comment in earnest, he might have been lying, either to impress others on the call, to exaggerate his power and influence, or for some other reason. In his lawsuit against Oltmann and others, Coomer firmly denied having any knowledge of, or taking part in, any “Antifa conference call.”
In mid-November, Oltmann published what appeared to be several screenshots from the Facebook account of an individual named Eric Coomer. We found an account whose profile picture matched that of the account apparently featured in the screenshots, but we have not yet been able to verify that it is owned by Eric Coomer from Dominion.
Snopes asked Oltmann for any and all relevant screenshots, archived links and URLs relating to what he presented as Coomer’s past pronouncements on Facebook, and in particular any concrete evidence demonstrating that the Facebook account did indeed belong to Eric Coomer from Dominion.
In response, Oltmann told Snopes he had “over 200 pictures and screenshots,” though he didn’t specify whether they constituted the proof we had requested. Oltmann expressed reluctance about providing them to Snopes, and ultimately did not do so in time for publication. If we receive substantive additional evidence, we will update this article accordingly.
Since we haven’t yet been able to verify the authenticity of the screenshots, or confirm that they were actually posted by Eric Coomer from Dominion, we’re not linking to them in this article. They included a post that contained a purported statement by “Antifa,” but no clear sign that the poster endorsed the statement; a vehemently anti-Trump post from July 2016; a post dismissive of Trump supporters in Texas; posts of YouTube videos for songs whose titles or lyrics expressed antipathy towards police; and a post that strongly criticized a controversial “election integrity” commission set up by Trump to investigate his own unfounded claims of widespread electoral fraud in the 2016 elections.
To reiterate, we don’t know whether Eric Coomer from Dominion created the posts shown in the screenshots Oltmann published. However, even if he did, they would not constitute proof of any impropriety on his part, and certainly would not point towards any election interference on his part. They do indicate that whoever created them is strongly critical of Trump and some of his followers. It might be inadvisable for an employee of an election technology company to articulate those views on social media, but the posts are not, in and of themselves, proof of improper actions.