Below are several highlights from the decision written by US District Judge Carl J. Nichols – a Trump appointee. The response to Powell came first and the responses to Giuliani and Pillow Guy all argue along similar logical lines, so these excerpts come from the response to Powell.

“For a statement to be actionable as defamatory, it must at least express or imply a verifiably false fact about the plaintiff,” the judge wrote.

“The question, then, is whether a reasonable juror could conclude that Powell’s statements expressed or implied a verifiably false fact about Dominion…This is not a close call. To take one example, Powell has stated publicly that she has “evidence from the mouth of the guy who founded [Dominion] admit[ting that] he can change a million votes, no problem at all.”…She told audiences that she would “tweet out the video.” Id. These statements are either true or not; either Powell has a video depicting the founder of Dominion saying he can “change a million votes,” or she does not.”

“Powell has stated publicly that Dominion “flipped,” “weighted,” and “injected” votes during the 2020 election…either Dominion did so or (as Dominion alleges) it did not. Powell has claimed that state officials received kickbacks in exchange for using Dominion machines…either state officials received such kickbacks or (as Dominion alleges) they did not. All of these statements, and many others alleged in Dominion’s Complaint, “expressed or implied a verifiably false fact” about Dominion.”

Judge Nichols determined that Dominion had adequately established that Powell had made false statements of fact about the firm, and the lawsuit may proceed.