MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell claimed the FBI seized his phone outside a Hardee's: 'My hearing aids run off this!'
- Mike Lindell said FBI agents seized his phone for an inquiry into a Colorado election official.
- In a video on Facebook, Lindell said the search warrant was served outside a Hardee's restaurant.
During a Facebook broadcast Tuesday night, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell claimed the FBI had been "weaponized" against him when it executed a search warrant to seize his phone.
According to a copy of a subpoena uploaded by Lindell, federal agents took his cellphone Tuesday as part of a warrant seeking records related to the "authorization or lack of authorization to damage or modify any Dominion computerized voting system." The investigation was also related to "any attempted misappropriation, theft, conversion, transfer, or exfiltration of any proprietary hardware, software or other data" related to the voting machines.
The FBI didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a comment to The Daily Beast, the Denver FBI field office said "without commenting on this specific matter, I can confirm that the FBI was at that location executing a search warrant authorized by a federal judge."
"They want to know about Dominion and Mesa County in Colorado," Lindell told Insider, referring to the investigation into Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, a pro-Trump Colorado election official accused of facilitating an election-data leak.
Lindell has been linked to Peters, who was accused in April of accepting a private plane ride from the pillow CEO. Lindell also told Insider he'd been helping to pay off Peters' legal fees, with some funds coming from his "personal money" redirected through a fundraising platform called the Lindell Legal Offense Fund.
He said four federal agents "cornered" him outside a Hardee's restaurant and indicated they had no intention of arresting him.
"'We just want your phone,'" Lindell recalled the agents saying.
Lindell also during a broadcast Tuesday described protesting against the seizure of his phone.
"I go: 'No. My whole company — I run five companies off that. I don't have a computer,'" Lindell said. "My hearing aids run off this! Everything runs off my phone!"
Coming out strongly in support of Lindell was former President Donald Trump — whose Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida was searched by the FBI in August.
"Mike Lindell, 'THE Pillow Guy,' was just raided by the FBI. We are now officially living in a Weaponized Police State, Rigged Elections, and all. Our Country is a laughing stock all over the World," Trump posted on Truth Social. "The majesty of the United States is gone. Can't let this happen. TAKE BACK AMERICA!"
Lindell continues to be highly involved in pushing Trump's false claims of voter fraud. In June, he told Insider he tried to secure a spot to publicly testify before the House panel investigating the Capitol riot but said the panel didn't want to talk to him.
Lindell is also bankrolling a nationwide effort to stop the use of electronic voting machines. He is also embroiled in a $1.3 billion lawsuit filed against him by the voting-technology company Dominion and a suit filed by the voting-systems company Smartmatic.