Mike Lindell Claims the FBI Seized His Cell Phone at a Hardees

MyPillow founder and right wing conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell was back in the news on Tuesday after he claimed that the FBI confronted him and seized his cell phone during an encounter at a Hardee’s fast food restaurant.

“The FBI came after me and took my phone. They surrounded me in a Hardee’s and took my phone that I run all my business, everything with. What they’ve done is weaponize—the FBI, it’s disgusting. I don’t have a computer. Everything I do [is] off that phone. Everything was on there. And they told me not to tell anybody. Here’s an order: ‘Don’t tell anybody!’ ‘OK, I won’t!’ Well, I am,” Lindell said in a video posted Tuesday to his Facebook account.

CNN later spoke to an FBI representative who confirmed the event:

An FBI spokesperson told CNN:

“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.”

— Zachary Cohen (@ZcohenCNN) September 14, 2022

The location, just to remind you, was a Hardee’s.

According to The Daily Beast, Lindell later posted on unspecified social media images of a purported grand jury subpoena in Colorado, and what the outlet said appears to be a warrant. He did not post this information on Facebook however, and he has been permanently suspended from Twitter for frequent attempts to spread lies about the 2020 election.

According to The Daily best, one of those documents said: “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.”

Lindell told The Daily Beast that the purported cell phone seizure is connected to an investigation into another conspiracy theorist named Dennis Montgomery.

Since the 2020 election, Lindell has been known for peddling the conspiracy theory that the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. His claims prompted a  $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems, according to Business Insider.

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