Drew Angerer
MAGA-boosting pillow salesman Mike Lindell claimed on Wednesday that his phone records have been subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Additionally, the MyPillow CEO said he has filed a legal complaint in an effort to block the request.
CNBC first reported on the alleged subpoena sent to Lindell, who has been one of the loudest proponents of former President Donald Trump’s unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” due to widespread voter fraud.
“I wasn’t there on January 6th and yes they did subpoena my phone records but we filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief against the January 6th committee and Verizon to completely invalidate this corrupt subpoena,” Lindell told CNBC in a text message.
Lindell, who said he’s spent at least $25 million pushing Trump’s election lies, further claimed he has taken legal action with a Minnesota federal court to stop the committee’s request for his phone records.
“I put a lot of lawyers on this because what they did is completely illegal,” Lindell claimed to The Daily Beast. “Verizon, they subpoenaed like eight days ago for my phone records for November and December and [the] first week of January,” he added.
“It’s a big deflection from all election crimes that are being revealed all over the country every day now!” the pillow mogul continued. “It’s called election deflection!”
The Jan. 6 House committee and Verizon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lindell joins a group of other Trump allies who have recently refused to comply with the committee’s subpoenas. Besides former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who faces possible contempt of Congress charges, and ex-Trump strategist Steve Bannon, who has been indicted for contempt of Congress, Trump loyalists like Seb Gorka and ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn have also filed lawsuits to block their subpoenas.
While Lindell has repeatedly insisted that he had no involvement with the Jan. 6 insurrection or the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the attack, multiple people have claimed that he was at several pro-Trump meetings in the days leading up to the Capitol riots.
Among the election-related events where he was spotted was a Jan. 5 meeting at Trump International Hotel with Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and former Trump adviser Peter Navarro, who has recently boasted about his intricate plan to overthrow the election on Jan. 6.
“Fifteen of us spent the evening with Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, Tommy Tuberville, Michael J. Lindell, Peter Navarro, and Rudy Giuliani. We talked about the elections, illegal votes, court cases, the republics’ status, what to expect on the hill tomorrow. TRUMP WILL RETAIN THE PRESIDENCY!!!,” MAGA-supporting Txtwire CEO Daniel Beck posted on Facebook the day before the insurrection.
Lindell vehemently denied to The Daily Beast that he was at either of these events.
“I was not at the Capitol, and I was not at the meeting,” the pillow mogul declared, adding that he was “miles and miles from the Capitol.”