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Pillow salesman Mike Lindell, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, is facing five IRS audits over his employment practices, he has told Steve Bannon's War Room podcast.
The MyPillow CEO has been paying the price for peddling election conspiracy theories, including cancellations by major retailers, a series of defamation suits and, according to him, having his company credit line cut.
On Saturday, Lindell told Bannon that the IRS had now launched five audits that examine employee payments over three years, which he believes is linked to his support for Trump.
In an interview heavy with plugs for his MyPillow products, Lindell said that audits are "disgusting." Lindell said the audits are targeting employees who earn MyPillow sales commissions while working remotely.
"They're going after my employees," he said. "During the China virus [COVID pandemic], we had all all these at-home moms and stuff, everybody out there taking calls at our call center under contract labor across the country. Now they're doing employee audits, they're trying to take away their jobs that you all call in your orders on... And it's disgusting."
"They just keep attacking. Now they're going after our employees. They made it very personal," he told Bannon, who was a senior adviser in Trump's White House.
Lindell said he was only being audited because he is trying to save the election system and urged conservative listeners to counterattack by buying My Pillow products. "Any money that comes through to me, I spend it to help save our country," he said.
Newsweek could not verify Lindell's claims and has contacted his lawyers as well as the IRS.
As part of a defamation lawsuit brought against the MyPillow CEO by Eric Coomer, a former executive at Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, recent court documents showed that his attorneys filed a motion seeking compensation for Lindell's depositions. Lindell has falsely claimed that the 2020 election was rigged using Dominion machines.
The lawyers said Lindell was "vulgar, threatening, loud [and] disrespectful" during three depositions. The motion also noted that he called one of the Coomer's attorneys an "ambulance-chasing a******."
"Don't sit and scold me already, mister. I'll do whatever I have to do," Lindell said at the start of a March 8 deposition, addressing Coomer's attorney. "You're just a lawyer. You're an ambulance-chasing lawyer, so don't start with me. I got all day. I'll take as much time as you want, so let's go. You're not my boss. You're just a lawyer, a frivolous lawyer. So go. Don't start scolding me."
One deposition "ended after Mr. Lindell left the witness chair during an unscheduled break while, again, disparaging counsel," Coomer's lawyers wrote. The attorneys have requested that the court order Lindell to come to Denver, Colorado, to be deposed for a fourth time.
Coomer, the former director of product strategy and security for Dominion, filed a lawsuit against Lindell, MyPillow and his website FrankSpeech in April 2022. The lawsuit alleges Lindell falsely accused Coomer of being a "traitor against the U.S." as part of claims that Coomer rigged the 2020 presidential election in President Joe Biden's favor.
Lindell, through his attorneys, has denied Coomer's claims.
About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more