MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell called on conservative voters to donate to his election security fund rather than to Republican candidates amid his financial struggles.
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Lindell, a close ally to Donald Trump, has faced financial challenges over his vocal support of the former president’s claims of widespread voter fraud during the 2020 election. Lindell has backed claims that Trump was the rightful winner of the election, resulting in defamation lawsuits from voting machine companies Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems.
These lawsuits have left him facing mounting legal bills, prompting him to plead with his supporters for financial donations. Additionally, he has said he spent $40 million of his own money trying to overturn the election, and several major retailers stopped stocking MyPillow over his views. Lindell has described the backlash as a “full-blown attack” on himself and MyPillow.
During a discussion on Lindell TV this week, he urged conservatives to prioritize donating to his Lindell Offense Fund, which has been used to pay for $500 wireless monitoring devices he says are designed to detect whether voting machines are connected to the internet.
He urged his supporters to donate to him before Republican candidates ahead of the 2024 elections, which AdImpact predicted in September will be the most expensive election year of all time. He believes “every single thing that’s going on out there” that’s going to help “secure our elections” would go through his fund, Lindell said.
“Anyone out there that’s going to put money into candidates and so on, your first thing should be here,” Lindell said. “Let’s get on the same playing field. Let’s level the field, right?”
Newsweek reached out to Lindell for comment via email, but Lindell previously told Newsweek his fund is not being used to cover his personal legal expenses.
“Not one penny went to Mike Lindell,” he told Newsweek, explaining that the fund was set up as a 501(c)(4) which means that it is not obligated to disclose the identity of its donors. “People can donate, and they don’t have to worry about the media attacking them because their names are not exposed there.”
Lindell said he sent the voting machine monitoring devices to election officials prior to state elections earlier in November without charge, though ABC News reported that it remained unclear whether these devices would be used due to concerns about the legality of using unapproved election devices.
After months of financial woes, he offered good news about the state of his company during an interview on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast on Wednesday.
“I am appeased because the MyPillow manufacturing floor is full, shipping is full, all the employees are working like crazy,” Lindell said after saying that MyPillow was doing “great.”
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.