Trump ally and 2020 election denier Mike Lindell has FBI phone seizure case rejected by Supreme Court

Mike Lindell, the MyPillow founder and avid Donald Trump supporter, has seen his petition challenging the FBI’s seizure of his mobile phone rejected by the US Supreme Court.

The highest court in the US ruled this week that it would not reconsider three lower court rulings that went against Mr Lindell over the seizure of his phone by agents at a Hardee’s drive-through restaurant in Mankato, Minnesota, in September 2022 as part of an investigation into an alleged scheme to breach voting system technology in Mesa County, Colorado.

The complainant had alleged the confiscation violated his constitutional rights against unlawful search and seizure and was an attempt by the US government to inhibit his freedom of speech.

But the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, with a three-justice panel writing last September: “While he has at times attempted to assert otherwise, Lindell’s objective in this action is apparent – this litigation is a tactic to, at a minimum, interfere with and, at most, enjoin a criminal investigation and ultimately hamper any potential federal prosecution.”

Mr Lindell attempted to elevate his case to the Supreme Court in February, complaining that his device had still not been returned to him, but this week’s decision knocks him back.

It represents only the latest setback the eccentric entrepreneur has suffered as a consequence of his loudly promoting unfounded conspiracy theories about the alleged manipulation of voting machines during the 2020 presidential election.

The Christian businessman’s insistence that machines at polling stations had been tampered with by Democrat-aligned operatives to prevent Mr Trump winning caused him to be sued for defamation by two manufacturers of those machines, Dominion