Lindell was a preeminent 2020 presidential election conspiracy theorist who financially supported efforts to overturn the election and spread voter fraud theories. Lindell claimed the January 6th insurrection was a leftist “setup,” directed “Absolute Proof,” a documentary theorizing the Chinese government infiltrated the 2020 election, and accused Dominion Voting Systems of rigging the 2020 election and deleting votes for Trump.
Election technology companies Dominion and Smartmatic both sued Lindell for defamation over his stolen election claims. Lindell was found liable for defamation for accusing Smartmatic voting machines of rigging the election, and for accusing a former Dominion employee of “treason.”
Despite losing multiple lawsuits, Lindell maintained his belief that the 2020 election was stolen, and continued to advocate for banning voting machines in 2025, and instead using hand-counted paper ballots.
December 2020: Lindell Sponsored And Spoke At Five Stops Of “A Two-Week March For Trump Bus Tour” In Protest Of The 2020 Presidential Election Results. According to Reuters, “Another important player and financier of the post-election protest movement was Mike Lindell, founder and CEO of the My Pillow company, whose advertisements and political commentary are a fixture on conservative media. Lindell - a self-described former cocaine addict and alcoholic who says he found sobriety through Christianity - helped sponsor a two-week March for Trump bus tour that ended in Washington on Dec. 14 and spoke at five stops.” [Reuters, 1/11/21]
2021: Lindell Directed And Starred In “Absolute Proof,” A Documentary Which Claimed “A Chinese Cyberattack ‘Flipped’ The 2020 Election.” According to Absolute Proof’s IMDb, “Absolute Proof 2021 2h Documentary MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's film claims that a Chinese cyberattack ‘flipped’ the 2020 election. Directors Brannon Howse Mike Lindell Stars Mike Lindell Phil Waldron Russ Ramsland.” [Absolute Proof – IMDb, Accessed 1/16/26]
2021: Lindell Called The 2020 Presidential Election “The Most Corrupt Election In U.S. History, And Probably In World History,” And Claimed The January 6th Insurrection Was A “Setup” By “Leftist Activists Masquerading As Trump Supporters.” According to Reuters, “The Capitol rioting has not changed Lindell’s views on contesting the election. ‘I’m never letting the fraud go,’ he told Reuters. ‘It was the most corrupt election in U.S. history, and probably in world history.’ (Christopher Krebs, a cyber-security chief for the Trump administration, called the election the most secure in the nation’s history shortly after the vote. Trump fired him.) Then Lindell cited the latest baseless conspiracy theory circulating among right-wing groups - that leftist activists, masquerading as Trump supporters, were responsible for the violence at the Capitol. ‘It was all a setup,’ he said.” [Reuters, 1/11/21]
2025: Lindell Pledged To Continue To Criticize Election Equipment Until Hand-Counted Paper Ballots Fully Replace The Equipment And Doubled Down On His Belief The 2020 Election Was Stolen. According to the Associated Press, “Lindell said he would appeal the financial award, saying Coomer’s lawyers did not prove Coomer had been harmed. He also said he would continue to speak out about election security, including criticizing the makers of election equipment like Dominion. ‘I will not stop talking until we don’t have voting machines in this country,’ said Lindell, who backs paper ballots counted by hand. Lindell stuck by his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen during the trial, but did not call any experts to present evidence of his claims.” [Associated Press, 6/16/25]
September 2025: A Federal Court Found Mike Lindell Liable For Defaming Election Technology Company Smartmatic With False Statements They Helped Steal The 2020 Election. According to MPR, “MyPillow founder Mike Lindell defamed the election technology company Smartmatic with false statements that its voting machines helped rig the 2020 presidential election, a federal judge in Minnesota ruled Friday. But U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan deferred until future proceedings the question of whether Lindell — one of the country’s most prominent propagators of false claims that the 2020 election was a fraud — acted with the ‘actual malice’ that Smartmatic still needs to prove to collect any damages.” [MPR, 9/27/25]
June 2025: Lindell Was Found Liable For Defaming Former Dominion Voting Systems Employee Eric Coomer And Was Ordered To Pay Coomer $2.3 Million In Damages. According to the Associated Press, “The jury found that two of Lindell’s statements about Eric Coomer, the former security and product strategy director at Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, including calling him a traitor, were defamatory. It ordered Lindell and his online media platform, formerly known as Frankspeech, to pay Coomer $2.3 million in damages, far less than the $62.7 million Coomer had asked for to help send a message to discourage attacks on election workers.” [Associated Press, 6/16/25]
2021: Dominion Voting Systems Filed A Lawsuit Against Lindell Based On Claims Of Defamation After Lindell Falsely Accused The Company Of Stealing The 2020 Election In Favor Of Biden. According to the Associated Press, “Dominion Voting Systems filed a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit Monday against the founder and CEO of Minnesota-based MyPillow, saying that Mike Lindell falsely accused the company of rigging the 2020 presidential election. The lawsuit filed in federal court in the District of Columbia alleges that Lindell ignored repeated warnings from Dominion, a voting technology company that has filed similar lawsuits against Donald Trump lawyers Rudolph Giuliani and Sidney Powell. Dominion accuses Lindell of repeatedly telling what the lawsuit labels the ‘Big Lie’ that the company used its technology to steal the election from Trump.” [Associated Press, 2/22/21]