My Pillow CEO, Trump ally faces probe for plot to target 2020 election computers

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Mike Lindell, the My Pillow Inc chief govt and ally to former President Donald Trump, is beneath U.S. federal investigation for id theft and for conspiring to wreck a protected pc linked to a suspected voting tools safety breach in Colorado.

The brand new particulars in regards to the focus of the investigation have been confirmed on Wednesday after Lindell’s attorneys uploaded a duplicate of a search and seizure warrant authorized by U.S. Justice of the Peace Decide Tony Leung for Minnesota federal court docket on Sept. 7.

Leung authorized the warrant primarily based on possible trigger that Lindell and different doable co-conspirators might have violated federal legal guidelines prohibiting id fraud, conspiracy to defraud the USA and inflicting intentional harm a protected pc.

Lindell’s attorneys uploaded the warrant as a part of their lawsuit in opposition to the Justice Division to demand the return of Lindell’s cellphone, which FBI brokers seized on Sept. 13 whereas he was ordering quick meals at a drive-through window.

Lindell is the most recent particular person to be swept into federal felony investigations surrounding Trump and his allies over their failed efforts to overturn the 2020 election outcomes primarily based on false claims of voter fraud.

INVESTIGATIONS INTO ELECTION CLAIMS

The FBI in August 2021 confirmed it had opened a felony investigation right into a suspected safety breach of voting tools within the western Colorado county of Mesa.

The investigation got here on the heels of a parallel state investigation, after election-equipment passwords have been found on a right-wing web weblog.

The tools at challenge within the election safety breach investigation have been furnished by Dominion Voting Methods, which has sued Trump allies and conservative tv networks over baseless claims the corporate’s merchandise have been used to rig the election in opposition to Trump.

The suspected breach led Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold to decertify the county’s 41 units, and she or he accused Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters, a Republican and Trump supporter, of aiding with the breach.

Peters, her deputy Belinda Knisley and former elections supervisor Sandra Brown have been indicted on state felony expenses this yr in reference to the election safety breach.

Knisley has since plead responsible and can testify in opposition to Peters, who has maintained she just isn’t responsible of the costs.

Peters, Knisley and Brown are all named as topics within the Justice Division’s felony investigation, in response to the warrant, together with a number of others.

The warrant signifies the FBI is in search of “all data and knowledge associated to wreck to any Dominion computerized voting system” and different associated knowledge.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Enhancing by Josie Kao)