MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is suing the FBI and the Department of Justice over the seizure of his cell phone outside a Hardee’s in Mankato, Minnesota, and accuses authorities of violating his constitutional rights. Liddell sent Insider a copy of the lawsuit that names Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray as defendants. Represented by a legal team including conservative attorney Alan Dershovich, Lindell’s lawsuit claims the FBI violated his First, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights. He is also demanding that his cell phone be returned and that any information obtained from his phone by the FBI or DOJ not be released. The lawsuit details Lindell’s side of the story, in which he describes driving home at 4 a.m. on Sept. 13 with a friend after they went duck hunting in Minnesota. According to the suit, Lindell’s group was at a Hardee’s in Mankato sometime in the late morning when they were cornered by FBI officers. Lindell’s team wrote that the FBI must have had him under surveillance because he had not made his location at Hardee’s public. The affidavit also said Lindell began to “fear for his life and that of his friend” as FBI officers approached their vehicle. According to the affidavit, there followed a conversation between Lindell and the officers about “Dominion Voting Systems,” accused Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, and Lindell’s private plane trip. Officers also seized Lindell’s phone. Lindell told Insider last week that the phone seizure was connected to an investigation into Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, a pro-Trump Colorado election official accused of facilitating the leak of election data. Lindell has been linked to Peters, who was accused in April of accepting a private plane ride from the business owner. Lindell also told Insider that he was helping pay for Peters’ legal fees, with some money coming from his “personal money” redirected through a fundraising platform called the Lindell Legal Offense Fund. Lindell’s team further claimed in its filing that the MyPillow CEO had been subjected to “unlawful detention” and that the agencies were “unreasonable” in executing the search and seizure warrant. A DOJ spokesperson connected to Lindell’s case told Insider that their office had no comment on the matter. Speaking to Insider on Tuesday, Lindell said he was suing for what he considered to be the “worst violation” of his rights. “It’s horrible. Can you believe they did this to your friend?” he told Insider. Liddell told Insider that if the FBI approached him at night, he would have “punched through” their cars with his truck. “Because I would have thought they were bad there. There was no sign that it was law enforcement, the way they surrounded me like that,” he said, adding that he believed the agency had been “armed” by the government. However, Lindell maintained that he would not mind being detained by the FBI. “I don’t care if they get arrested or whatever or if they bring me in,” Lindell said. “So I can put the word out to get rid of the voting machines, you know? I’d do whatever it takes.” Lindell continues to be heavily involved in promoting former President Donald Trump’s false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election. First, it is funding a national effort to stop the use of electronic voting machines. He is also embroiled in a $1.3 billion lawsuit filed against him by voting technology company Dominion and a lawsuit by voting systems company Smartmatic.
