MINNEAPOLIS — On his online TV show, Minnesota's Mike Lindell – once a wealthy businessman and avid supporter of Donald Trump – made this stunning announcement this month.
"I ran out of money. I have no money personally. Nothing left; nothing left," Lindell said.
That means no money to pay the law firm defending him – which is already owed millions.
"And during this time, we can't pay lawyers. We can't pay lawyers a couple of million dollars a month. You know, you're gonna pay lawyers – I can't go get the money," Lindell said.
Lindell and his MyPillow company are facing multi-million-dollar libel lawsuits in three different federal courts for allegedly making false claims about rigged voting machines.
A federal judge here in Minnesota has already allowed Lindell's lawyers to withdraw. Similar motions are pending in separate cases in Washington, D.C. and Denver, Colorado.
In the Colorado case, a judge is also considering sanctions against Lindell for his disruptive testimony in videotaped depositions, including insults like, "How dare he come and sue MyPillow. He's a scumbag for doing that. Put that in there, scumbag. S-C-U-M bag."
He insulted the lawyers.
"You're just a lawyer, an ambulance-chasing lawyer," he said.
And he needled the judge.
"That judge, you put this in the record, that judge is a big problem I got," Lindell said.
Lindell is even accused of interrupting a deposition to appear on conservative Steve Bannon's podcast.
It's still unclear how the withdrawal of his lawyers will impact the lawsuits. But Lindell is using his financial troubles for a new fundraising appeal, calling it the Lindell Offense Fund, and recently telling his online audience that he'll keep fighting.
"We need to save our country. They asked me today – the media – 'Mike, what are you going to do now? Are all your efforts going to fold up because you're out of money?' And I said, 'No!'"
In a phone interview with KARE 11 News, Lindell said he wanted to make two things clear: He claims he'll have new lawyers by the end of the week, and concerning the statement that he's out of money, he says that's him, personally, who's broke. He says his company MyPillow is doing fine.
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