MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has filed a lawsuit against the House select committee investigating the January 6 riot at the Capitol after revealing the panel subpoenaed his phone records.
Lindell, an ally of former President Donald Trump who has pushed similar unproven claims of mass fraud in the 2020 election, revealed the committee’s actions in a text to CNBC.
“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,” he wrote.
Lindell claims he received a notice from Verizon less than two weeks ago notifying him of the subpoena.
SCOOP: MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell tells me that his phone records have been subpoenaed by the @January6thCmte. He tells me he got a notice from Verizon about the subpoena almost a week ago.
– He filed a legal complaint today to try to block the subpoena.https://t.co/Rau57JXC9t— Brian Schwartz (@schwartzbCNBC) January 5, 2022
RELATED: Liz Cheney Releases ‘Stunning’ Text Messages During January 6 Riot, It Appears To Have Backfired
Mike Lindell Sues January 6 Committee
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell filed a lawsuit against the January 6 committee in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota.
“Lindell is arguing that the subpoena violates his First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights,” The Hill reports.
The business mogul also makes a specious claim that the panel has no authority “because they were not validly organized as a House committee” under the rules of the House.
Lindell is arguing that the subpoena “exceeds the authority of the Select Committee” because it requests “records that are far beyond the scope of the Select Committee’s investigation.”
BREAKING: Trump ally Mike Lindell has filed suit against Pelosi and House Jan. 6 committee over a subpoena for his phone records. He says the subpoena violates his religious freedom, among other things. Via @nicholaswu12 https://t.co/MBevK9pNkd
— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) January 6, 2022
RELATED: Former Trump Chief Of Staff Mark Meadows Sues January 6 Committee, Nancy Pelosi
Suits Piling Up
Last month, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows ratcheted up his battle with the House select committee investigating the January 6 riot at the Capitol, suing the panel along with Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The suit was due in part to subpoenas over private phone records the committee sought from Verizon.
CNN reported that Meadows asked a federal court to “block enforcement of the subpoena the committee issued him as well as the subpoena it issued to Verizon for his phone records.”
Former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows is suing the House committee investigating January 6 and House Speaker Nancy Pelosihttps://t.co/KVaO0nMh38
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) December 8, 2021
Aside from Meadows and Lindell, far-right radio host Alex Jones, Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich, attorney John Eastman, and former Trump White House adviser Sebastian Gorka have all filed lawsuits in response to subpoenas from the committee.
The select committee’s pursuit of records from Verizon is a clear attempt to gain access to messages from political opponents that can be leaked and released as a means to selectively embarrass those involved.
Representative Liz Cheney released text messages from Meadows last month showing several people close to Donald Trump during the Capitol riot urging the then-President to issue a statement condemning the protesters.
The committee has been trying to portray January 6 as a planned attack on the Capitol, but Cheney’s stunt backfired when the messages showed associates of Trump caught completely off guard by events that day.
Ahahahaha… @RepLizCheney released emails showing nobody was coordinating anything.
Brilliant! https://t.co/kw6vsSDCET
— Rusty Weiss ?? (@rustyweiss74) December 14, 2021
In one instance, the select committee admitted to altering a text message presented by Representative Adam Schiff as evidence. The message was between Meadows and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).
In its original form, the text was a three-paragraph summation of a legal briefing by lawyer Joseph Schmitz to Meadows, as forwarded by Jordan.
Schiff presented the text message as having come from Jordan himself, rather than having been forwarded information, reduced the summary to one paragraph which itself was truncated, and added a period to create the illusion of it being the full statement.
The committee even created a graphic complete with a logo bearing similarities to a chat icon to make it appear as if it was a singular text message.
Breaking: Following @FDRLST reporting that Adam Schiff and his staff doctored a text message between Jim Jordan and former WH chief of staff Mark Meadows, the House Jan. 6 committee has just admitted that it did, in fact, doctor the text message.https://t.co/78aRNyOib7
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) December 15, 2021
Former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon was indicted by a federal grand jury on two contempt-of-Congress charges related to his refusal to testify and provide documents to the committee.
Nine Republicans joined Democrats in voting to hold Bannon in contempt.
The House in December voted to hold Meadows in criminal contempt of Congress.
