MyPillow founder Mike Lindell had his phone seized because he is being investigated for alleged identity theft and damage to a computer in connection with a breach of a Colorado county’s voting system, according to the Justice Department’s search warrant.
The FBI seized Lindell’s phone on Sept. 13 while he was waiting at a fast-food drive-thru in Minnesota. He is contesting the seizure in court. Lindell’s attorneys revealed the warrant Wednesday for a company-issued cellphone used by the MyPillow founder, showing the DOJ is investigating the device for information potentially involving identity theft and a suspected voting equipment breach in Colorado’s Mesa County.
The warrant includes a 24-point list of information the FBI was authorized by U.S. Magistrate Judge Tony N. Leung to seize on Sept. 7. Law enforcement was given until Sept. 21 to execute the warrant.
MIKE LINDELL CLAIMS FBI SEIZED HIS PHONE
Attorneys for Lindell published the warrant one day after he filed a lawsuit against Attorney General Merrick Garland, accusing the DOJ of violating his First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment rights.
“The Warrant was obtained by the Government in bad faith,” lawyers for Lindell wrote. “In applying for the issuance of the Warrant, the [Justice] Department failed to apprise Magistrate Judge Leung of Mr. Lindell’s role in attempting to uncover violations of federal and Colorado election record retention statutes and the fact that he communicated with his lawyers about these matters. It also failed to appraise the Magistrate Judge of the subpoena it intended to serve on Plaintiffs.”
Leung approved the search-and-seizure warrant on the basis of probable cause that the MyPillow founder may have violated federal law.
Federal agents searched for records in relation to Mesa County election clerk Tina Peters’s alleged scheme to breach voting machines during the 2020 election.
In March, Peters was indicted on state criminal charges, including three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one count of criminal impersonation, and one count of first-degree official conduct.
Federal officials first became privy to the breach after hard drive copies and passwords from the Colorado county’s voting machines were presented at Lindell’s “cyber symposium” event in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which was touted as a gathering of experts who could back up his claims of 2020 election fraud.
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Lindell is one of several allies of former President Donald Trump who has been subject to searches and inquiries by federal agents in recent weeks. The MyPillow founder is facing defamation lawsuits from two election technology companies, Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems, over his election fraud claims.
A Minnesota district judge denied Lindell’s motion on Monday to dismiss Smartmatic’s case against him, saying he ignored “publicly available information” that rendered his theories invalid.
