On Saturday’s broadcast of Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell claimed that the Internal Revenue Service is targeting at least five of his employees who work as contract labor in his call center.
“They’re going after my employees,” Lindell told Bannon. “During the China virus … we had all these at home moms … taking calls at our call center under contract labor across the country. Now [the IRS is] doing employee audits, they’re trying to take away their jobs.”
“It started in California and now there’s three other states that are coming at MyPIllow,” Lindell added. “It’s disgusting.”
Lindell and his company have faced several attacks over the past few years, which many believe have been politically motivated due to Lindell’s strong backing of former president Donald Trump and his vociferous questioning of election integrity in the United States.
In 2022, Lindell’s bank, Minnesota Bank and Trust, decided to terminate its business relationship with Lindell after calling him a “reputation risk” because of his political stances. Earlier this year, Lindell was ordered to pay Robert Zeidman $5 million for “proving” that a claim Lindell made regarding the 2020 election was false.
“It’s going to end up in court,” Lindell said at the time. “I’m not going to pay anything.… He didn’t prove anything.”
Lindell has also been sued for defamation by Dominion Voting Systems for “falsely accusing Dominion of rigging the 2020 presidential election.”
Despite Dominion CEO John Poulos’ assertion that “No amount of money can repair the damage that’s been done” by Lindell, the company is seeking $1.3 billion in damages.
In addition, Lindell’s distribution network for his MyPillow products has been severely damaged by several high-profile retailers, including Costco, Dollar General, Kohl’s, Target, and Walmart, refusing to sell his merchandise.
If Lindell is correct, an attack from the IRS signals an escalation of the war against him from the Left as the Biden administration now appears to be attacking him directly instead of going through surrogates.
“They just keep attacking. Now they’re going after our employees. They made it very personal,” Lindell said. “These are … moms working from home.… We don’t have a call center that answers overseas where you can’t understand the language. They’ve been with me from the start.”
According to Lindell, his method of using contract employees in his call center has been going on for some time without any previous problems.
“This is something that hasn’t happened in 15 years, and all of a sudden there’s five IRS audits against MyPillow in three different years,” Lindell told Bannon.
“For [the IRS] to attack them and say you can’t be contract labor anymore.… That’s what these audits are all about and it’s disgusting,” Lindell raged.
Former Trump aide Peter Navarro accused “woke” elements of society of engaging in a “crucifiction” of Lindell.
“Before ‘wokeism,’ Mr. Lindell was praised across the ideological divide. He overcame drug and gambling addictions to create a powerhouse U.S. company employing thousands of Americans,” Navarro wrote in an op-ed.
“In these ‘woke’ times, however, Mr. Lindell has been under constant attack. ‘Wokeism’ seeks to bankrupt any business that does not conform to the rigid doctrines of the left, and his original ‘woke’ sin has been to openly question the results of the 2020 presidential election,” Navarro added.
Indeed, it seems as if Lindell, with his defense of Trump and his questions about election integrity, has made some very powerful enemies. He can expect more of the same, as it doesn’t appear that backing down is one of his strategies.
