MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell says FBI seized his cellphone

Mike Lindell, the controversial CEO of MyPillow, said Tuesday that his cellphone had been seized by the FBI.

In an episode of his show, the Lindell Report, the election skeptic said the seizure took place at a Hardee’s drive-thru while driving back to his home in Mankato, Minnesota.

Two cars blocked his vehicle in the pickup lane and Mr. Lindell, according to a clip of the show at The Post Millennial, told his traveling buddy that “that’s either a bad guy, or it’s FBI.”

The CEO and ally of former President Donald Trump said he asked the officers if they were going to arrest him.

They replied with, among other things, political queries about Dominion voting machines, the election in Colorado and “how long have you known Doug Frank,” referring to an election skeptic who claims President Biden’s 2020 victory was the result of cheating.

They told him that they had a warrant authorizing the seizure of Mr. Lindell’s phone.

A letter accompanying the warrant, which has been viewed by The Washington Times, says “an official criminal investigation of a suspected felony is being conducted by an agency of the United States and a Federal Grand Jury in the District of Colorado.”

In the letter, officials made a nonbinding request that “you not disclose the existence of this subpoena for an indefinite period of time,” claiming that “any disclosure could be detrimental to the investigation.”

Mesa County, Colorado, election official Tina Peters is facing state felony and misdemeanor charges accusing her of breaching her county’s election equipment. Mr. Lindell says he has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars for Ms. Peters’ legal defense, and she has been a supporter of Mr. Lindell’s efforts to prove that the 2020 election was stolen.

Mr. Lindell has received a subpoena demanding that he hand over documents to a Colorado grand jury by Nov. 3. 

The agents, according to Mr. Lindell’s account on his program, also told him he would not be allowed to make a backup of his phone. Mr. Lindell said he told the agents incredulously that “I run five companies [and] I don’t have a computer.”

“If I don’t give it to you, will you arrest me then?” he replied.

Mr. Lindell said he called his lawyer and asked whether he could refuse the seizure but was told he couldn’t.

While he called the FBI actions “disgusting” and “garbage,” according to the account he gave, the agents at least were “pretty nice guys, none of them had an attitude.”

The seizure of Mr. Lindell’s cell phone comes while the agency has targeted numerous Trump allies as the midterm elections loom. The House special committee on the Jan. 6 riot also subpoenaed Mr. Lindell’s phone records in January.