CLAIM: A Dominion Voting Systems employee named Eric Coomer said on an “antifa conference call” prior to the 2020 election, “Don’t worry about the election, Trump’s not gonna win. I made f—–g sure of that!”
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. There is no evidence of Coomer saying this, and he has denied it in a sworn declaration. Joseph Oltmann, a conservative podcaster, first made the claim six days after the 2020 election on his show, but also said at the time he couldn’t be certain it was Coomer who made the statement. He has not presented credible evidence to corroborate the claim. Coomer has since filed five defamation lawsuits related to these allegations.
THE FACTS: The erroneous claim, which has been shared in the past by major political figures and media personalities, cropped up again this week on Instagram.
A post shows a picture of Coomer, identified as the director of strategy and security at Dominion, next to his supposed quote. Text below the quote specifies that Coomer made the statement while “talking on an antifa conference call.”
But there is no credible proof that Coomer said this or that such a conference call ever happened. Oltmann has even expressed doubt about his own assumptions.
The claim originated on the Nov. 9, 2020, episode of Oltmann’s podcast Conservative Daily. Oltmann said he infiltrated an “Antifa call” before the election, where he heard a man identified as “Eric” and “the Dominion guy” bragging that he had ensured Trump would lose.
“And he responds, and I’m paraphrasing this, right, don’t worry about the election,” Oltmann said. “Trump is not going to win. I made effing sure of that, ha ha ha ha.”
Oltmann acknowledged on the episode that he does not have a recording of the call itself. He also said he “can’t be sure” it’s the same person, and that he “discovered” Coomer online. He has said in subsequent media interviews that he initially found Coomer by doing a Google search. In a Zoom interview with The Associated Press, Oltmann said that he took notes on the “Antifa call,” but did not record it.
“So, I — they identified him as Eric from Dominion, but I didn’t — I mean, I have to basically say that there could be — maybe it’s a different guy, but that led to me to all the other things that I got, which is getting access to Facebook, getting access to this information,” he said on the podcast.
Oltmann’s claims about the call were amplified by other conservative media outlets and high-profile political figures soon after the Nov. 9 episode. He has since presented no credible evidence proving that Coomer was the Eric on the alleged call.
Coomer, who says he was driven into hiding by death threats as a result of these claims, filed a defamation lawsuit on Dec. 22, 2020, against Oltmann, the Trump campaign and lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, as well as other conservative media personalities and organizations. This suit, and four others related to Oltmann’s allegations against Coomer, are ongoing.
“Dr. Coomer unequivocally denies the false claims that he played any role whatsoever in supposedly rigging the 2020 presidential election, or that he conspired to do so,” Charlie Cain, an attorney representing Coomer, told the AP. “There has never been any evidence to support these lies, and Dr. Coomer has filed multiple defamation lawsuits to set the record straight.”
In a sworn declaration filed on Sept. 17, 2021, Coomer said that the claims Oltmann made about him are false.
“I did not participate in an Antifa conference call or boast about my supposed ability to rig the election,” the declaration reads. “Such conduct is antithetical to my belief system and would constitute criminal conduct.”
A May 13, 2022, decision denying motions to dismiss Coomer’s original lawsuit states that the court found Oltmann’s testimony “evasive and not credible” and concluded that his “statements regarding that conference call are probably false.”
Asked by the AP whether he had any further evidence to corroborate his claims, Oltmann repeated his claim that Coomer spoke about interfering in the 2020 election on a call with Antifa. He said he knows it was Coomer because the man on the call sounded the same as Coomer did in videos online, but provided no other evidence to back up his assumptions. Oltmann said that he was not expressing doubt on the podcast that the man was Coomer — that instead he was guiding listeners through the thought process that led to his conclusions about Coomer.
Newsmax, a conservative media outlet named in Coomer’s first lawsuit, was dropped from the suit in April 2021 after apologizing for airing false allegations about Coomer and the 2020 election. The apology admitted that Newsmax had no evidence for any of these claims, including that Coomer had “ever participated in any conversation with members of ‘Antifa.’” It appeared on Newsmax’s website, although it has since been removed.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
