As former President Donald Trump was perpetuating the lie that the election that resulted in his ouster from office was rigged, he and his surrogates made blatant false allegations against those who worked the polls in a number of states.
One of those workers is now suing Trump for character assassination “on a national level,” according to a filing in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.
James Savage was serving as the voting machine warehouse supervisor for Pennsylvania’s Delaware County during the 2020 election when he suddenly found himself the target of a torrent of accusations from the then-sitting President of the United States.
Trump and his lawyers, among them Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, alleged that Savage uploaded 50,000 fraudulent votes for the man who won Pennsylvania’s electoral college votes, Joe Biden.
“The plaintiff did nothing of the sort,” reads the lawsuit. “Despite knowing the impossibility of such claims and/or insinuations, [Trump and his surrogates] spread, reposted, and disseminated these outrageously defamatory claims and/or insinuations against Mr. Savage, subjecting him to threats of physical violence, and causing Plaintiff to suffer ... two heart attacks.
“Simply put, Mr. Savage’s physical safety and his reputation were acceptable collateral damage for the wicked intentions of the Defendants herein,” the suit continues.
Savage attributes the two heart attacks he has suffered since the election to the stress of Trump’s allegations, which he says directly led to numerous death threats.
“As a result of the Defendants’ knowingly false statements, Mr. Savage and his family have been the target of threats and intimidation, including at his place of work and/or his home. Indeed, less than a week before Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021, the plaintiff was accosted at his work by two men without credentials asserting that they wanted to search his work and were there on behalf of 'the voters,” the suit says.
“Plaintiff rightfully feared and continues to fear for the safety of himself and his family.”
Though Savage’s name was never explicitly mentioned by Trump or his lawyers, they did accuse the “voting machine warehouse supervisor of Delaware County” of rigging the election and did so for weeks. Savage is the only person who holds that position in Delaware County.
Savage is seeking more than $50,000 for defamation and “severe emotional, physical and/or psychological harm” in the suit, which was first reported by the website Law360.
So far, Trump has yet to comment on the lawsuit.
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