Mike Lindell sued at nightmarish race with MAGA elections secretary Tina Peters

A protest Tuesday by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell was supposed to give support to a embattled conspiracy theorist. But at the end of the protest, Lindell and his colleagues are facing new legal jeopardy.

As a bed linen salesman by profession, Lindell has become one of the biggest advocates of election hoaxes. The pro-Trump conspiracy theory has gotten Lindell and his allies into legal trouble. An associate, Tina Peters – secretary of Mesa County Colorado – is facing ten criminal charges over allegations that she helped leak data from voting machines overseen by her office. close. Separately, Peters is facing an ethics investigation over her dubious “legal defense fund”. Speaking to reporters ahead of a pro-Peter rally on Tuesday, Lindell claimed to have donated up to $800,000 to that fund — well over the state gift limit of $65 to officials. government.

Before she could take the stage, Lindell was also served with a lawsuit, this time from a man who had become the subject of baseless voter fraud conspiracy theories.

Tuesday’s protest outside the Colorado capitol building doubled as a campaign event and a legal defense rally for Peters, who is running for Colorado Secretary of State. Her long bid, if successful, will result in her overseeing state elections.

Meanwhile, Peters is accused of mismanaging the local elections she oversees as Mesa County Clerk. After her office allegedly failed to count votes in a recent election pair, Peters became involved in a criminal case for allegedly posing as a local man and using his identity. us to hack the voting machines of Mesa County. Peters allegedly passed information from that breach to conspiracy theorists, who falsely claimed that it showed electoral disadvantage. In August, Peters personally joined those conspiracy theorists, flying in Lindell’s private jet to his “cyber symposium” on alleged election fraud. She then spent more than a month hiding in the “safe houses” that Lindell provided for her.

Speaking to reporters ahead of Tuesday’s rally, Lindell appeared to confirm that Peters had flown on his private jet. He also claims to have donated surprising amounts to Peters’ legal defense.

“I just put all the money in myself,” Lindell said, according to 9News of Colorado. “I don’t know, maybe I booked three, four, five, maybe 800,000 [dollars] with my own money. “

Those admissions, if true, could trouble Peters. Colorado law forbids elected officials from accepting gifts worth more than $65, unless received from family or close friends — and by self-identification, neither does Lindell. The MyPillow mogul told reporters he first met Peters at his networking symposium, at which point he paid her to fly on his plane.

Neither Lindell nor Peters responded to requests for comment. Anne Landman, a Mesa County resident who blogs about local politics and was the first to file an ethical complaint about Peters’ fundraising practices, said Lindell’s comments further underscored concerns about raisers. Peters fund.

Landman told The Daily Beast. “He is not only related to himself for giving it, but more importantly for Tina Peters to receive the money. That would greatly affect her case for breach of ethics.”

Landman filed a complaint about the fund in January, alleging Peters used the fund to comply with state regulations on gifts and campaign finance. According to Landman, in the complaint, Peters promoted the fund himself, pointing to advocacy events where Peters asked attendees to donate to the fundraiser.

Colorado’s Independent Ethics Committee, which is investigating Landman’s complaint, declined to comment on Lindell’s statement due to an ongoing review, but pointed to state law on gifts to public office.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said Lindell’s comments could indicate a violation of the state’s campaign finance laws or laws against gifting Colorado officials. (Griswold, whom Peters is challenging for the post, did not oversee the investigation into Peters’ fundraisers.)

“The question is is it infringing? And if so, is it a gift ban or a campaign financial limit,” Griswold told The Daily Beast. She notes that Peters conspiracy theories are part of a trend against confidence in the ongoing elections.

“The Big Lie has gone viral, with Tina Peters and many other domestic actors,” said Griswold. “The far right has used the Big Lie as a way to destabilize American elections. We can see that in the large number of voter suppression laws last year or under consideration this year. “

Late last month, weeks after Peters was slapped with 10 counts in a voting machine breach, the controversial legal defense fund’s website went offline, 9News first reported.

Peters is currently running his donations through Mike Lindell, Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported earlier this month. Web searches for “Tina Peters Legal Defense Fund” lead to advertisements for Lindell’s “Lindel Legal Foundation” website. Website advertisement for Peters (“Help Mike Lindell and others support Tina Peters and help save our country! Donate online.”) Redirects to general donation page for Lindell, no method method of marking a donation to Peters or any other specific recipient. (Donors will “receive a copy of Mike’s memoir with any donation,” the website notes.)

Lindell also held a fundraiser after the rally for Peters, charging up to $1,250 for the meetups, Colorado Public Radio reported.

Peters was not the only speaker to leave Tuesday’s rally in greater legal peril. Before his speech, Lindell was served with a new lawsuit from Eric Coomer, a former employee of the Dominion voting system. Coomer and his former employer have been the subject of extravagant election fraud conspiracy theories that have been exposed, especially after a Colorado-based conspiracy theorist spread a discredited rumor. About a Dominion agent named Eric.

In the new lawsuit against Lindell, Coomer accuses the MyPillow man of defamation. “Lindell publicly accused Dr. Coomer of being a ‘traitor to the United States,'” the lawsuit reads. “He claimed, without evidence, that Dr. Coomer committed treason and that he should commit suicide. make yourself a government.”

The lawsuit further accuses Lindell of helping to destroy Coomer’s career. “After more than fifteen years as a respected expert in his field, Dr. Coomer’s reputation has been irreparably tarnished,” the lawsuit alleges. “He is no longer able to work in the election industry because of unwarranted suspicion inspired by the Defendants’ lies, and instead he must now endure death threats. reliable and often burdened with an imagined criminal conspiracy whose scope is unprecedented in American history. ”

Lindell is also currently facing a $1.3 billion lawsuit from Dominion, as well as unspecified damages from voting technology company Smartmatic, which Lindell also referenced in conspiracy theories mine.

Shortly after receiving a copy of the lawsuit on Tuesday, Lindell took action, where he made new threats against Coomer.

“I just got the papers. Thanks, Eric. Now Eric will be the first one behind bars when we melt [voting] machines,” Lindell told the crowd.