MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell says he 'never even watched footage' of the Capitol insurrection and believes 'it was a setup'

• Mike Lindell denied ever witnessing the Capitol insurrection and described it as a "setup."
• "I've never even watched footage of that," he told Rolling Stone in a recent interview.
• Lindell joins a growing chorus of Republicans who have downplayed the deadly riot.

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell in a new interview published Monday denied ever seeing video from of the January 6 Capitol insurrection and described it as a "setup."

Asked about the deadly riot, Lindell told Rolling Stone magazine: "I've never even watched footage of that."

"But in my opinion it was a setup," he continued. "I've been to over 50 rallies. There has never been one incident. And you don't think it was a setup? Gimme a break."

Lindell joins several other allies of former President Donald Trump who have sought to downplay the insurrection or spread falsehoods about it. GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has said the Capitol riot "didn't seem like an armed insurrection" and has falsely described it as a "peaceful protest." He most recently reiterated that stance during a Fox News appearance on Sunday.

Read more: The MyPillow guy says God helped him beat a crack addiction to build a multimillion-dollar empire. Now his religious devotion to Trump threatens to bring it all crashing down.

Widely circulated video footage and photos of the Capitol on January 6 show large numbers of people constructing a gallows at the complex, attacking police officers, and breaking into the building through doors and windows. Federal investigators have charged 521 people so far in connection to the riot.

Trump has been widely accused of inciting the insurrection after he rallied his supporters to protest the 2020 election results based on lies that the race was stolen from him. Lindell, a staunch ally of Trump's, has repeatedly pushed similar false claims about the election.

Senate Republicans last month blocked the creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the Capitol insurrection. Trump had been against the bill that would have established the commission.