KEY POINTS
- Lindell has spent $30 million to retain a group of lawyers and private investigators
- The MyPillow CEO spent half a million on a lawsuit filed by Trump-backed candidates in Arizona
- Lindell is also subsidizing the Cause of America group
Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow and a known ally of former President Donald Trump, has been spending lavishly as part of an attempt to promote false election fraud claims.
Lindell has recently pumped out at least $30 million to retain a group of 70 professionals — including lawyers, cyber consultants and private investigators — who are tasked with proving there was widespread voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election even after authorities found evidence that disproved the claims, The Guardian reported.
In April, the MyPillow CEO spent an estimated $500,000 on a lawsuit filed by two Trump-backed candidates in Arizona, namely secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem and governor-candidate Kari Lake. The lawsuit asked a judge to ban the use of voting machines in the upcoming midterm elections. Lindell has repeatedly claimed voting machines were defective.
Lindell also said he plans to underwrite similar lawsuits banning the use of voting machines over the next few months, adding that he would likely file the suits in Alabama, Colorado, Michigan, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin, among others.
“I’d like to file the lawsuits in all 50 states,” he told The Guardian in an interview. “I didn’t come all this way not to succeed. We’ve got to get rid of them all.”
Late last year, Lindell launched Cause of America, which was purported to be an “election integrity” group aiming to “restore trust in local elections.” Shawn Smith, a Colorado Springs-based activist and leader of the group, called Lindell the “angel investor” of the grassroots group.
“Mike Lindell is kind of the angel investor, and the purpose of Cause of America is to enable the grassroots organizations across the country who are doing election integrity,” Smith told former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon during an appearance on “Bannon’s War Room.”
The MyPillow CEO said he was spending about $100,000 to $200,000 a month to subsidize the group.
Since Trump lost the election, Lindell has strongly promoted conspiracy theories that the election was rigged. His claims later led to two defamation lawsuits against him. Dominion Voting Systems sued Lindell for defamation for $1.3 billion. Smartmatic also filed a defamation lawsuit against the MyPillow CEO for an undisclosed amount.
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