June 11, 2024 09:57 AM UTC

Election Denier Flees Deposition, Could Face Sanctions, Contempt of Court

• 2 Comments
• by: Heidi Beedle

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Originally published at the Colorado Times Recorder

Last week, Douglas County podcaster and election conspiracist Joe Oltmann fled a deposition in federal court in Denver, opening him up to further sanctions and possibly contempt of court charges. Oltmann is currently a defendant in a defamation lawsuit brought by former Dominion executive Eric Coomer, who is suing Oltmann for damage to his reputation and harassment suffered after Oltmann, on his podcast and many others, claimed Coomer took part in an “antifa conference call” and claimed he would rig the 2020 election. The judge in that case found Oltmann’s story, “evasive and not credible,” and concluded that Oltmann’s ‘statements regarding that conference call are probably false.”

Oltmann walked out of a June 6 deposition after refusing to answer questions about his source for the call.

Coomer has filed multiple lawsuits against individuals and entities who promoted Oltmann’s claims, including Colorado Republican National Committeeman Randy Corporon, conservative talk radio station KNUS, Salem Media, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, and Clay Clark, the founder of the ReAwaken America Tour, a far-right and Christian nationalist speaking tour promoting QAnon, election denialism and COVID-19 conspiracy theories.

After fleeing the deposition for the Clark lawsuit, Oltmann appeared on his podcast, Conservative Daily, to discuss the incident.

“I knew what they were going to do,” Oltmann said. “I even told Mark [Sares, Oltmann’s attorney] before we walked in there. I was like, listen, I’m not answering these questions. And if it happens, I’m going to do something. And I have to be careful what you tell the attorney because you don’t want to put them between a rock and a hard spot. But it was weird because he was like, ‘Well, you know, we can just go in front of the judge.’ And I was like, ‘That’s not how it works, Mark. That’s not how it works. They’re going to make that threat, they’re going to take the threat, they’re going to weaponize the system, they’re going to force me to divulge my sources.’”

To further investigate Oltmann’s claims, attorneys have attempted to learn the identity of the individual — a former antifa member, according to Oltmann — Oltmann claims gave him access to the call, and the individual who provided Coomer’s private social media posts to Oltmann.

“[Coomer’s attorney]  says, ‘Tell me who the source was for the Facebook posts,’” said Oltmann during last week’s podcast. “I just went like this [not responding]. And he asked me again. And I just looked like this [not responding]. And he asked me again, and I just looked like this, straight ahead. And he asked me again and says I’ll take it as you’re going to violate the order. And he went straight to the order. ‘You’ve been ordered by the judge to give up this information.’ Now he had Coomer walk out of the room, but keep in mind these are the same attorneys who have done as much damage, and have lied through their f-ing teeth at every turn.”

Attorneys also questioned Oltmann about the involvement of notorious “super troll” and serial harasser Joey Camp. Camp had made social media posts taking credit for implicating Coomer in the election fraud conspiracy prior to Oltmann, and in a text message sent to Coomer on Feb. 28, 2022, Camp claims to have a recorded version of the Zoom “antifa conference call,”

In a November 2022 deposition for the Lindell lawsuit, former Conservative Daily cohost Max McGuire was asked about Camp.

“Did you ever consider the possibility that it was — that it was actually Mr. Camp or someone else the call, not Mr. Oltmann?” asked Coomer attorney Charles Cain.

McGuire had considered that possibility, he said. “[Oltmann] has a habit of putting himself in other people’s stories sometimes,” said McGuire.

In recent years, Camp has fled to Belize, and in recent months was charged for criminally “spreading false news,” in connection with the murder of a member of the Belizean Coast Guard.

The only evidence supporting Oltmann’s claims that the “antifa conference call” took place are photos Oltmann provided of handwritten notes he says he took during the call, and a screenshot of the Google search of “eric dominion denver colorado” Oltmann claims he made on Sept. 26, 2020, prior to the election.

However, Washington Post investigative reporter Chris Dehghanpoor pointed out that the distinctive “Google doodle” on Oltmann’s screenshot was actually from Nov. 11, 2020, suggesting he fabricated the evidence submitted to the court. The title of the document Oltmann submitted is “SCREENSHOT OF ‘eric dominion denver colorado’ taken on 9/26/20.”

Oltmann described the court forcing him to reveal the identity of his source, if the source actually exists, as “lawfare.”

“They made the deposition location the federal courthouse in Denver in the jury room of the judge that said that I had to divulge this information,” said Oltmann. “So it’s lawfare.”

As a result of fleeing the deposition, Oltmann could face sanctions and contempt of court charges. This is not the first time Oltmann’s conduct during depositions has caused problems. In March, 2022, Oltmann was sanctioned by the court for nearly $33,000 for failing to appear for a scheduled deposition and failing to answer questions during a deposition.

Oltmann has exerted considerable influence over Colorado’s Republican politics. In 2022 his activist group FEC United — labelled an antigovernment militia by the Southern Poverty Law Center — took credit for the performance of the slate”grassroots” candidates during the assembly process, although those candidates would go on to overwhelmingly lose the primary election. Recently, Oltmann has taken to appearing and speaking at county commission meetings across Colorado about claims of election fraud.