Mike Lindell: Police report filed after MyPillow CEO ‘attacked’ at South Dakota hotel

‘You’ve got to realize, I’ve been in all walks of life, I’ve had guns to my head, swords to my throat,’ Lindell says

Police in South Dakota have confirmed that a police report was filed after MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell alleged that he had been attacked at his hotel during his “Cyber Symposium” event.

Mr Lindell was hosting a three-day event at the South Dakota Military Heritage Alliance, intended to provide evidence for the baseless conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 election and the false claims that it was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

Mr Lindell said he had been targeted near the elevators at his hotel in Sioux Falls and that another symposium participant’s house was raided and all electronics were taken.

“Last night when I got to the hotel, I was attacked,” Mr Lindell said onstage at the event.

“I’m OK. It hurts a little bit. I just want everyone to know all the evil that’s out there,” he added.

Sioux Falls Police Department (SFPD) said on Thursday morning that no report had been made but a spokesman confirmed that an officer would visit Mr Lindell later in the day.

On Thursday afternoon, SFPD said officers had taken a report and an assault took place at 11.30pm on Wednesday at a local hotel, the Argus Leader reported.

SFPD said they were unable to confirm names of any victims and that no arrests had been made.

During the event’s final day on Thursday, Mr Lindell said: “We are never quitting, till we get to the truth,” adding: “We got the truth, just to get it out there.”

He also claimed the participant had his house “raided at 10.30 at night”.

“He had four children at home and he didn’t do anything,” Mr Lindell added. “We have people that intel [has] found are bad, bad, bad people, as I found out yesterday by the elevator.

“This is where our country’s gone. You take away the free speech. So they go after me. And they’re going, ‘Well, we try and crush his company and take everything from him.’ And then they go after [me] physically.

“Now I’ve got to go around with a bodyguard for who knows how long,” the MyPillow CEO said. “And I don’t like bodyguards. I like to have American freedom to drive around, to do what I want, to not worry, to be able to take pictures with people.”

He added: “You’ve got to realize, I’ve been in all walks of life, I’ve had guns to my head, swords to my throat back when I was in addiction.”

Mr Lindell, along with pro-Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell, are embroiled in defamation lawsuits from Dominion Voting Systems, who contends that the trio, as well as others, defamed the company by spreading baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election being stolen from Mr Trump.

Mr Lindell was seen hurrying off the stage on Wednesday at his “Cyber Symposium” in Sioux Falls as the news broke that a judge had ruled that the defamation lawsuit against him could move ahead.

“Mike Lindell not only claims that he was ‘attacked’ outside of his hotel, but a staffer adds that ‘really radical folks outside [are] trying to penetrate,’ despite a street preacher being the only person outside,” Salon staff writer Zackary Petrizzo tweeted.

“Not a great showing in terms of attendance on day three of Mike Lindell’s ‘cyber symposium,’ as only about half of the crowd here on day two is back for the third day,” Mr Petrizzo added.

During a June hearing, Mr Lindell tried to get the suit dismissed, but US District Judge Carl Nichols ruled that the defamation lawsuits against Mr Lindell, Ms Powell, and Mr Giuliani, should be allowed to proceed. Dominion is seeking more than a billion dollars in damages from each of the defendants.

Judge Nichols, who was appointed by Mr Trump, said in his decision that the First Amendment doesn’t provide “blanket immunity” to Mr Lindell.

Dominion is arguing that they were defamed by Mr Lindell’s baseless claims that the election was rigged by the company to thwart Mr Trump.

“There is no blanket immunity for statements that are ‘political’ in nature,” Judge Nichols wrote. “It is true that courts recognize the value in some level of ‘imaginative expression’ or ‘rhetorical hyperbole’ in our public debate... But it is simply not the law that provably false statements cannot be actionable if made in the context of an election.”

The voting machine manufacturer filed further lawsuits earlier this week against right-wing networks One America News and Newsmax, alleging that they have been airing false narratives surrounding the election.