MyPillow CEO and proverbial yeller at clouds Mike Lindell is under investigation by the Department of Justice for potential identity theft and intent to damage a protected computer potentially connected to a 2020 Colorado voting equipment security breach.
Lindell’s legal team published a copy of the search and seizure warrant issued against him as part of Lindell’s broader lawsuit against the FBI and Justice Department to try and return his cell phone. FBI agents seized Lindell’s phone while he was sitting in a Hardee’s drive-through like last week. According to The New York Times, Lindell claims those agents questioned him about his ties to a Colorado county clerk who’s facing an indictment for allegedly attempting to pull data from Dominion Voting Systems.
For everyone still catching up, the FBI opened an investigation last year into a suspected security breach of voting machines in Mesa County, Colorado. That investigation began after Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold reportedly alerted officials at the Department of Homeland Security of the suspected breach. Griswold has previously accused the Mesa County clerk, an outspoken Republican with apparent connections to Lindell, of playing a role in the breach.
The Lindell search warrant seeks, “all records and information” related to damage to the Dominion voting systems, including information on any attempts to impair the integrity of the machines’ data. Additionally, the warrant seeks out any information “relating to the attachment of any peripheral” to a Dominion system, such as a USB flash drive. A Magistrate judge in Minnesota federal court reportedly approved the order in early September on probable cause Lindell and other alleged co-conspirators have violated federal laws around identity fraud and conspiracy to defraud the U.S, according to Reuters.
Dominion Voting Systems filed a $US1.3 ($2) billion defamation lawsuit against Lindell last year after he repeatedly spread false claims suggesting the machines were rigged ahead of the 2020 election. Naturally, Lindell counter sued Dominion with an even pricer $US1.6 ($2) billion defamation suit.