Mike Lindell takes aim at Fox News in election symposium’s opening remarks

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell launched into a tirade Tuesday against the media, taking aim specifically at Fox News during the opening panel for his Cyber Symposium during which he says he will present evidence of a Chinese hack of the 2020 presidential election.

Mr. Lindell says he has 37 terabytes of “irrefutable” evidence that hackers, who he said were backed by China, broke into election systems and switched votes in favor of President Biden, which he plans to present at the event.

“Shame on you, Fox,” Mr. Lindell said to cheers from the crowd. “Disgusting that they haven’t talked about this election. At least we know where CNN and all these terrible outlets come from. At least they attacked, and then we can at least get the word out.”

Mr. Lindell had a high-profile dustup with Fox News last month, pulling ads valued at more than $1 million per week from the network, once one of MyPillow’s biggest promoters, after Fox refused to advertise the symposium.

Mr. Lindell’s comments Tuesday further galvanized the divide.

“I said the other day they should be a weather channel,” he said. “And the next day I changed my mind because they wouldn’t report an oncoming storm. It’s disgusting. What happened to reporting the news?”

He also berated other networks for not reporting his claims, or for producing what he called hit pieces. But Fox drew the most fire, specifically for declining to advertise the symposium.

“Shame on them,” he said. “But let me tell you, I didn’t put it on CNN and MSNBC because it’s all relevant how much you pay. They don’t have an audience. They’re losing that because we’re tired of their disinformation and their lies and what’s going on.”

Mr. Lindell said he would be monitoring coverage of the symposium in real-time and would address negative stories as soon as they are published.

“Every single story,” he said. “I’ve got five people, five companies just watching for some disinformation to come out there. So they’re going to drop in, and we’re going to go right to calling them out.”

Few media outlets escaped his fury during the remarks, except for Newsmax and One America News Network (OAN), which he praised. The two networks were sued Tuesday morning by voting machine manufacturer Dominion Voting Systems. Patrick Byrne, the former chief executive of Overstock.com Inc., also was sued by the voting machine manufacturer. Dominion said the defendants made defamatory statements about the company by claiming that its machines switched votes in favor of Mr. Biden during the election.

In February, Dominion sued Mr. Lindell and MyPillow for $1.3 billion in damages for defamation based on similar allegations. The complaint states that Mr. Lindell damaged Dominion’s reputation through his claims of compromised election integrity. In June, Mr. Lindell filed a $1.6 billion countersuit citing the First Amendment and claiming that Dominion had infringed on his right to free speech.

NewsofDominion’s suit against Newsmax and OAN broke while Mr. Lindell was addressing the audience. An assistant interrupted his address and handed him a written index card with the information while he was on stage.

“Isn’t that something?” he said. “Why would they pick today? Why would they pick today? I mean, there’s suspicious things going on.”

Mr. Lindell’s opening remarks were delayed for about an hour Tuesday morning, because of an interruption in the livestream of the event that is being hosted on Mr. Lindell’s website, Frank Speech. Mr. Lindell said the interruption was the result of an attack but did not say who he suspected was responsible.

Once the livestream was restored, the event began with an opening prayer and the singing of the national anthem.

Mr. Lindell then premiered a well-polished documentary called “Your Wake Up Call” in which retired Army Col. Phil Waldron lays out a case arguing that the election could be and was hacked by China through internet connection points with voting machines.

Several election officials told CNN last week that Mr. Lindell’s claims are baseless. A Wisconsin election official from a county where Mr. Lindell said votes were switched told CNN that the county conducted a hand recount of every ballot and that a paper trail backs up the results.

Mr. Lindell has not revealed the specific evidence he says he has about the Chinese hacking, but on Tuesday he alluded to a major reveal later Tuesday evening and Wednesday afternoon.

The symposium marks a culmination of months of Mr. Lindell’s highly publicized claims of election fraud. His claims have widely been discredited and cost him significantly financially and in terms of reputation.

Mr. Biden defeatedPresidentTrump in the general election. Federal officials in both administrations found no evidence of widespread fraud despite claims by Mr. Trump and several of his allies that the election had been stolen. Former Attorney General William P. Barr, who was appointed by Mr. Trump, also has contested the former president’s claims.