MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's phone seized by FBI at Hardee's, he says
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a supporter of Donald Trump who has espoused the former president's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, said he was served a federal subpoena Tuesday and that his phone was seized by federal agents.
Lindell claimed in a video posted online Tuesday that FBI agents approached him after he ordered food at a Hardee's drive-thru in Mankato, Minnesota. Patrick McSweeney, an attorney for Lindell, confirmed in an email to CBS News that the subpoena was served and Lindell's cell phone was confiscated.
"We pull ahead and a car comes perpendicular and parks a little ways in front of us, and I've been around the block, and I said to my buddy, I said, 'Uh that's either a bad guy, or it's FBI,'" Lindell said in the video.
The FBI's Denver office said in a statement to CBS News Minnesota that the agency served a search warrant at that location Tuesday. Lindell provided CBS News with photos of three pages of what appears to be a subpoena authorized by a federal grand jury in Grand Junction, Colorado. One page shows a subpoena to appear in person before the grand jury on Nov. 3.
Lindell said during a phone call with CBS News on Wednesday that the subpoena specifically sought his phone and referenced any records on the device related to Dominion Voting Systems, a voting machine company that has sued Lindell and others for defamation.
Lindell said FBI agents asked him about Tina Peters, a Mesa County, Colorado clerk who has been accused by state authorities of allowing an unauthorized person to break into the county's election system in order to search for evidence that would validate Trump's election conspiracy theories.
Peters on Sept. 7 entered not guilty pleas to three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, criminal impersonation, two counts of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, one count of identity theft, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with the secretary of state.
CBS News Colorado reported in August 2021 that the FBI was investigating the Mesa County Clerk and Recorder's Office. It is unclear if Lindell's subpoena was in connection with that investigation.
Lindell said Wednesday that the FBI agents also asked him about various flights he's taken. Lindell said he told them he travels the country meeting with elected officials.
"I fly to attorney generals, secretary of states, politicians. I meet with them and say, 'We need to get rid of these electronic voting machines,'" said Lindell, who reiterated his stance that he has obtained evidence of fraud in the 2020 election.
Despite the confiscated phone and delayed meal, Lindell was complimentary of the FBI agents he encountered.
"I want to say this for the record, they were pretty nice guys. None of them had an attitude," Lindell said in the video.
