Trump backer Lindell is broke from legal fights
MINNEAPOLIS — Attorneys who’ve been defending MyPillow chief executive and election denier Mike Lindell against defamation lawsuits by voting machine companies are seeking court permission to quit, saying he owes them unspecified millions of dollars and can’t pay the millions more that he’ll owe in legal expenses going forward.
Lindell confirmed in an interview with the Associated Press on Friday that he’s out of money and said he understands his lawyers are people who need to make a living.
Attorney Andrew Parker wrote in documents filed in federal court on Thursday that his firm and a second firm representing MyPillow in lawsuits by Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems can’t afford what it would cost to represent Lindell and MyPillow through the rest of the litigation. Continuing to defend him would put the firms “in serious financial risk,” he wrote.
It’s the latest in a string of legal and financial setbacks for Lindell, who propagates former President Donald Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him, in part by rigged voting machine systems. Several big-box retailers, including Walmart, have discontinued his products.
“MyPillow’s been decimated. … We’ve lost hundreds of millions of dollars,” Lindell said, adding that the other main assets he has left are his home and pickup truck. He blamed Dominion, Smartmatic and the news media, including the conservative outlets Fox News and Newsmax.
“You’re all doing it because you want me to shut up about security of our elections,” a defiant Lindell said. “You’re all the same.”
But he vowed to keep fighting and to keep MyPillow going. He said he doesn’t have other debts and has no plans to file for bankruptcy for himself or MyPillow.
In a rambling video posted on his FrankSpeech website Thursday night, he depicted himself as a victim of “cancel culture” and said he wasn’t done fighting.
“I’m never going to stop trying to secure elections for this country ever,” Lindell said.
Parker filed the requests to quit in federal court in Minnesota, where Smartmatic filed a defamation lawsuit seeking over $1 billion, and in Washington, D.C., where Lindell is a defendant in a similar $1.3 billion lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems that also targets Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.