Mike Lindell is latest Trump ally to turn on Fox News despite using network to advertise his pillows
Pillow seller and conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell spent part of his day at the Conservative Political Action Conference Thursday yelling about Fox News — a television network he frequently promotes — and complaints about House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to say to let any of these broadcasters host access to footage of the January 6 Capitol riot.
Mr Lindell, whose star does commercials for his MyPillow products made him a ubiquitous presence on Fox years before his spreading of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election made him a star in conservative media circles, has a booth at the annual right-wing confab for his eponymous TV streaming outfit by Lindell.
On Thursday, the first day of the three-day conference, he was seen holding court at his booth while delivering a meandering tirade about Fox, which he claims is involved in covering up what he calls massive Called voter fraud because the network recognized President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
When asked about his lawsuit against Fox News seeking access to Jan. 6 security footage, Mr. Lindell told reporters, “CNN should have it. MSNBC should have it. Everyone should have it.”
“You can’t – which is the biggest and most troubling thing – #1 is freedom of the press and it’s discrimination. Let’s just say: Why Fox? That’s the last person I want it on because they’ve already proven their defamation lawsuits with Dominion, they didn’t subpoena me,” he said.
“You didn’t ask me for evidence. So what do I think Fox is going to do? Just decide what they want to release from January 6th? There are people in prison who might want to see some of this. I am here. I want to see some of this for reasons it should be – 40-something-thousand hours of tape! Every news outlet in the country should have it to dive into, and whoever finds the best news first wins, right? It should be so.”
Mr. Lindell’s complaints about Fox included presenter Tucker Carlson, on whose program he frequently advertises.
He said Mr Carlson, who appears to have mocked his allegations of voter fraud in court documents released as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against the network,
“He was down on that stage at the convention in Arizona and said we had to get rid of the machines. Because we know more now? I knew it back then on January 9th. These guys didn’t know that,” he said.
“So now we have everything we have now — we’ve voided records for the last two elections, including 2020, everything was machine corruption, machine-rigged — every county in this country in the last two elections except Florida, in 2022, Ron’s conspiracy – or conspiracy with Dominion – I don’t know why there weren’t computer problems. But if you’re going to ask these guys now – ask Tucker! Tucker will absolutely say the election was stolen. Maybe not then – it was her opinion.”