By Dareh Gregorian -
NBC News
A Pennsylvania poll worker who was falsely accused of rigging the state elections in favor of Joe Biden is suing former President Donald Trump and some of his top aides, accusing them that
their lies about him led to two heart attacks and numerous death threats. death.
In documents filed with the Philadelphia Court of Common Causes, Delaware County Voting Machine Warehouse Supervisor James Savage says
his "reputation has been assassinated nationwide" thanks to false claims made by Trump.
, his attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, among others, that he had cast 50,000 votes in favor of Biden.
"The plaintiff did none of that," the indictment maintains.
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"Despite knowing the impossibility of such claims and innuendo," Trump, his representatives and supporters "broadcast, republished, and disseminated these outrageously defamatory statements and innuendo against Mr. Savage,
subjecting him to
threats of physical violence and causing the plaintiff to suffered (…) two heart attacks
”, he continues.
"In short, Mr. Savage's physical safety, and his reputation, were acceptable collateral damage to the evil intentions of those charged here," the lawsuit states.
[Federal judge rejects lawsuit to reverse Donald Trump's defeat in Pennsylvania]
Trump's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The indictment, which was filed Monday and first reported by the Law360 website, says the smear began in a presentation by state Senate Republicans on Giuliani's allegations of state voter fraud in Gettysburg to late November last year.
Biden won there by 80,000 votes.
Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani in an Aug. 9, 2016, file photo at a campaign rally in Fayetteville, N.C..Evan Vucci / AP
A pair of poll watchers accused the Delaware County voting machine warehouse supervisor of inputting votes for Biden with USB cards, claims echoed by Giuliani and Ellis, and later by Trump, who phoned the event. .
Although Savage was not named during the event, he is the county's sole machine warehouse supervisor, the case notes.
Trump's team continued with that claim in the following weeks, which, according to the lawsuit, prompted a series of threats against the official.
[A New York court suspends Rudy Giuliani's license in that state]
“As a result of the defendants' knowingly false statements,
Mr. Savage and his family have been subjected to threats and intimidation
, including at their workplace and at home.
Just days before Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in Washington DC on January 6, 2021, the plaintiff was approached at his job by two men without credentials who claimed they wanted to register his work and were there on behalf of 'the voters,' says the cause.
"The plaintiff feared and continues to fear, rightly, for his safety and that of his family,
" asserts the court filing, which seeks compensation of more than $ 50,000 for defamation and "serious emotional, physical and psychological damage."