Mike Lindell says his phone records have been subpoenaed by January 6 committee
MyPillow CEO argued that the subpoena violates his First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights
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Your support makes all the difference.MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has sued the 6 January committee investigating the Capitol riots in an attempt to block its bid to subpoena his phone records.
Mr Lindell filed the lawsuit in the US District Court for Minnesota against the Democrat-led House select committee on Wednesday, as it seeks records and documents related to the events of 6 January 2020.
Lawmakers on the committee had requested a wide range of communications from White House officials and several others in a bid to get a complete view of the actions and discussions members of the White House, federal government and Trump campaign were involved in prior to the attack on the Capitol building.
Mr Lindell’s lawsuit mentioned that the committee issued Verizon a subpoena for all of his records of communication between 1 November 2020 and 31 January 2021.
But the subpoena “exceeds the authority of the select committee” as it requests “records that are far beyond the scope of the select committee’s investigation”, he argued. Mr Lindell sought to invalidate the subpoena or wanted to be given a chance to review the requested information before it is presented to the committee so he may “assert any applicable claim of attorney-client or other privileges”.
His lawsuit also argued that the subpoena to Verizon for his phone records was “a veiled effort to conduct an unauthorised criminal investigation, and it is not in furtherance of a valid legislative purpose”.
His lawsuit also argued that the subpoena violated his First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights. It added that the House Select Committee members “acted without authority because they were not validly organised as a House committee”.
Mr Lindell told the Insider that the subpoena was “election deflection” and that the 6 January committee was “garbage.”
Mr Lindell was photographed at the White House days after the 6 January Capitol Hill riots. Pictures of him showed him carrying notes with words such as “martial law if necessary” and “Insurrection Act.”
But he denied meeting former president Donald Trump. “I wasn’t there. I was in Virginia .... I was walking through the lobby on my way to a dinner in Virginia with people from another country. People have asked me about this, and I’ve even shown them a picture, like, I can’t be in two places at the same time,” he said.
The riot on 6 January last year was believed to have been incited after Mr Trump raised calls for his supporters to “fight like hell” and “stop the steal”. Several people, comprising mostly of those who supported the former president, gathered for a rally at the Capitol building to support false claims that the 2020 presidential elections had been stolen from him.
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