MyPillow Chief Executive Mike Lindell said Tuesday that FBI agents seized his cellphone, the latest in a long line of Trump allies to be targeted by Joe Biden’s Department of Justice.
The agents then told Lindell they had a warrant to seize his cellphone and ordered him to turn it over, he said. On a video version of his podcast, Lindell displayed a letter signed by an assistant U.S. attorney in Colorado that said prosecutors were conducting an “official criminal investigation of a suspected felony” and noted the use of a federal grand jury.
During his live stream, Mr. Lindell revealed that he was handed a letter from the US Department of Justice requesting that he not reveal the existence of the subpoena. As expected, Lindell released it live on his show immediately.
Dear Subpoena Recipient:
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. As a
subpoena recipient, you are not under an obligation of secrecy. However, we request
that you not disclose the existence of this subpoena for an indefinite period of time.
Although the law does not require non-disclosure unless a court order is issued, we
believe that the impact of any disclosure could be detrimental to the investigation.
If you do not believe that you can comply with this request, please notify the
undersigned Assistant United States Attorney before you disclose the existence of this
subpoena. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Hy: s/ Aaron Teitelbaum
Aaron Teitcibaum
Ageletant United States Attorney
Apparently, this subpoena is related to a case involving Tina Peters in Colorado. It sounds like Lindell was being pressured to testify in that case and has been refusing.
Peters appeared onstage in August 2021 at a “cybersymposium” hosted by Lindell, who has sought to prove that voting machines have been manipulated and promised to reveal proof of that during the event.
According to state officials, a copy of Mesa County’s voting system hard drive was allegedly distributed and posted online.
The copy included proprietary software developed by Dominion Voting Systems that is used by election offices around the country. Experts have described the unauthorized release as serious, saying it provided a potential “practice environment” that would allow anyone to probe for vulnerabilities that could be exploited during a future election.
The Mesa County breach is just one of several around the country that have concerned election security experts. Authorities are investigating whether unauthorized people were allowed to access voting systems in Georgia and Michigan.
Lindell said the federal agents had also questioned him about when he first met Frank, an Ohio math and science educator, who is among a group of people who have been traveling across the U.S. meeting with community groups asserting that they have evidence that voting machines were rigged in the 2020 election.
In court records, prosecutors say Frank met with Peters and members of her staff in April 2021 in her office. During the meeting, Frank told Peters that the county’s election management system was vulnerable to outside interference and the group discussed concerns the state was going to “wipe” the machines, according to the court records.
