Inside Lawsuit That Could Kill a Denver Radio Station

Eric Coomer has made national headlines with the lawsuits he's filed, charging that media firms such as Fox News and a range of political figures, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, made bogus accusations of election fraud targeting his former employer, Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, and in the process turning him into a target for groups tricked into believing that former President Donald Trump was cheated out of a second term.

Coomer's latest complaint, filed on November 13 against Salem Media of Colorado, owner of KNUS radio at 710 AM, and one of its hosts, attorney and Republican National Committeeman Randy Corporon, strikes closer to home — and if it's successful, it has the potential of silencing the station for good.

According to the document, KNUS and Corporon jointly "elevated Dr. Coomer into the national spotlight, invaded his privacy, threatened his security, and fundamentally defamed his reputation through a relentless election fraud campaign."

As evidence, Coomer shares some of the responses to a November 21, 2020, Reddit post making the specious assertions. They include: "Fking maggot," "His fucken face makes me so fucken mad. FUCK HIM!! TRUMP WON!," "A good mug for USA’s Top 10 Terrorist list. Wanted DEAD or ALIVE" and "This man will be dead within 2 weeks."

Among Salem's alleged sins is providing a platform for Joe Oltmann, described as a "Colorado-based conspiracy theorist," whose tales about a fictional partnership between Dominion and antifa organizations to steal the presidency for Joe Biden were among the major reasons Coomer spent months in hiding after the 2020 election.

But while Corporon endorsed such theories — saying at one point, "Joe, what you have done and exposed may save the republic, or at least save the possibility of having an honest outcome to this election" — Peter Boyles, another KNUS personality who chatted with Oltmann, has been far more critical of fraud fairy tales. Indeed, the suit quotes Boyles as saying, "The center of the conspiracy is all here. A river runs through it. This stuff all generates at this radio station and comes through this radio station." He added that "a list of people remain, and many of them appear here at this radio station again and again and again."

The suit's comment about this statement: "Unfortunately, Boyles’ moment of candor was not shared by all at 710 KNUS, and other Salem Media hosts continue to promote the falsehoods about the election generally and Dr. Coomer in particular. As a result, the harm that Salem Media has caused Dr. Coomer with its reckless, incessant drumbeat of falsehoods across numerous programs for months on end is irreparable. Dr. Coomer’s successful career in election security is over, and the constant death threats that persist even now will remain an indelible trauma for the rest of Dr. Coomer’s life."

Salem Media vice president and general manager Brian Taylor, Corporon and Boyles all declined to comment about the lawsuit, whose "Prayer for Relief" section reads like so:

Plaintiff respectfully requests that Defendants be cited to appear and answer, and that the Court enter judgment against Defendants, including, but not limited to:

• Permanent injunctive relief requiring Defendants and their officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys to remove any and all defamatory publications made about Dr. Coomer

• Actual and special damages against Defendants in an amount to be proven at trial

• Leave to amend this Complaint and allege exemplary damages in an amount to be proven at trial after the exchange of initial disclosures pursuant to Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure....

• Attorney’s fees and costs

• Prejudgment and post-judgment interest, and

• Such other and further relief, both general and special, to which Plaintiff may be justly entitled to receive.

Click to read Eric Coomer v. Salem Media of Colorado and Randy Corporon.