EXCLUSIVE DOCS: Dominion warns Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani it's readying a defamation lawsuit and told him to 'preserve documents' related to the voting tech company

rudy giuliani covid — Rudolph Giuliani, attorney for President Donald Trump, conducts a news conference at the Republican National Committee on lawsuits regarding the outcome of the 2020 presidential election on Thursday, November 19, 2020.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Dominion Voting Systems has sent letters to Rudy Giuliani and White House counsel Pat Cipollone to demand that they preserve documents in anticipation of "imminent" defamation litigation.
The election technology company is at the center of a baseless conspiracy theory, propagated by Giuliani and other Trump lawyers, that it is responsible for rigging the November election against Trump.
It has recently gone on the offensive, sending a searing retraction demand to Trump ally Sidney Powell.
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Lawyers working for Dominion Voting Systems, an election technology company at the center of a right-wing conspiracy theory about election fraud, sent a letter to Rudy Giuliani Tuesday telling him to preserve documents in anticipation of an "imminent" defamation lawsuit.

"Because you have been, and continue to be, an architect and driver of the ongoing misinformation campaign against Dominion, we write to you now to (1) demand that you cease and desist making defamatory claims against Dominion and (2) ensure that there is no confusion about your obligation to preserve and retain all documents relating to Dominion and your smear campaign against the company," the letter to Giuliani, obtained by Insider, reads.

Dominion lawyers sent a similar letter to Pat Cipollone, President Donald Trump's White House counsel, also obtained by Insider. Both letters ask the recipients to preserve copies of documents and communications "referring or relating in any way to Dominion."

The existence of the letters was first reported by CNN.

For weeks, Giuliani has propagated the conspiracy theory that Dominion is in cahoots with Smartmatic, a rival election technology company, to develop software that changed votes in the November election from President-elect Joe Biden to President Donald Trump. The allegations have no basis in reality and have been repeatedly dismissed by judges overseeing election lawsuits.

Dominion and Smartmatic have gone on the offense in recent weeks, following dozens of failed lawsuits from President Donald Trump and his allies seeking to overturn the results of the election he lost. Dominion has hired Clare Locke LLC, a firm specializing in defamation lawsuits, to represent them.

The conspiracy theory - which also includes convoluted claims about China and the now-dead Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez - first gained currency through Sidney Powell, an attorney who worked with Giuliani on the Trump campaign's legal team. Powell was kicked off the legal team in late November, but Giuliani has continued to make many of the same claims.

The letters warn Giuliani and Cipollone that they must maintain copies of all correspondences with Powell, fellow Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis, and fellow conspiracy-theorizing Trump ally attorney Lin Wood.

Tom Claire, who signed the letters, told Insider Wednesday night that Dominion was still evaluating whether to pursue defamation lawsuits. For now, he said, he wanted to ensure that Giuliani and the White House counsel's office would preserve documents for discovery.

Earlier this month, Dominion sent a letter to Powell demanding that she retract her claims and threatening to sue her for defamation as well.

Smartmatic has sent retractions requests to right-wing media organizations that have propagated the conspiracy theories, including Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News. In response, Fox News aired a segment debunking the claims made about Smartmatic by its own anchors. Newsmax also aired a segment where an anchor admitted they had "no evidence" about the claims made about Smartmatic and Dominion.

Though Powell has recently participated in multiple White House meetings, Giuliani has sought to distance her from the White House, telling Newsmax that she "speaks for herself."

Trump recently considered making Powell a White House special counsel to investigate voter fraud claims, according to the New York Times. Giuliani and Cipollone both reportedly opposed the move, according to the Times. Trump ultimately abandoned the idea, according to the Daily Beast.

Legal ethics experts previously told Insider that Giuliani and Powell have been "playing with fire" with their election conspiracy theory lawsuits and were at risk of court sanctions and possibly disbarment.

Giuliani didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

This article has been updated.

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