A federal judge in Minnesota has thrown out Mike Lindell’s challenge to the FBI’s search and seizure of his phone in a criminal investigation related to the 2020 election.
Judge Eric Tostrud said Lindell, CEO of My Pillow and a prominent supporter of former President Donald Trump’s false voter fraud allegations, had not shown the investigation was unconstitutional and said he could not have his phone returned or get more access to details from Search.
“The government has demonstrated a compelling interest in preventing the premature disclosure of search warrant material during its ongoing federal criminal investigation. Several factors here justify keeping the search warrant material under seal,” the judge wrote.
“The extensive 80-page search warrant affidavit describes in significant detail “the nature, scope and direction of the government’s investigation and the individuals and specifically [activities] involved,” including information obtained from recorded communications, confidential informants, and cooperating witnesses. Premature disclosure of these materials would significantly undermine the government’s ongoing criminal investigation, giving Plaintiffs (and potentially other targets of the investigation) a window into the government’s investigation that could jeopardize the investigation as a whole,” continued judge.
Tostrud noted that the FBI’s search warrant material “reveals information about individuals who are not the targets” of the investigation and said that “the important government interest in the integrity of an ongoing criminal investigation, as well as the privacy interests of these connected individuals, is not warranted , outweigh Plaintiffs’ interest in accessing these search warrant materials.”
The judge added that there is “no practical way to order deletions” of the 80-page warrant.
Liddell has not been charged with any crime.
Federal authorities in Colorado are investigating the hacking of a county’s election system as part of efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to subpoena documents issued to Liddell earlier this year.
The records, previously obtained by CNN, showed the Justice Department gathering evidence related to three possible crimes in Mesa County, Colorado: identity theft, intentional damage to a protected computer and/or conspiracy to commit the two.
The investigation appears to be looking at potential crimes separately from the Jan. 6, 2021, federal criminal investigation into the attempted election tampering by Trump officials in late 2020 and early 2021.
