Mike Lindell misses deadline for recount payment, seeks restraining order

MyPillow founder Mike Lindell (R) announced Monday he will file a temporary restraining order against Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon amid his ongoing efforts to fund a private recount of the state’s gubernatorial primaries.

His campaign said in a statement that Simon’s office had put Lindell “in an untenable position” by placing restrictions on his proposed audit — limiting the recount to just the two leading Republican candidates.

Lindell lost the election to Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth (R) by roughly 11 percentage points, according to Decision Desk HQ. But the MyPillow founder refused to concede, later claiming there were irregularities in vote totals .

“The rest of the candidates’ vote would not be counted under their contingent plan. Nor would the Democrat ballots be recounted,” Lindell’s campaign wrote Monday.

“Why is this important?” it continued. “In addition to being a violation of Minnesota state law, the anomalies on election night reporting identified by Mike Lindell’s team show an algorithm that applies to ALL of the candidates not simply Lindell and Demuth.”

Cassondra Knudson, a spokesperson for Simon, told The Hill that the office did not receive a payment or a discretionary request by the Aug. 24 deadline. She added that, at this time, the state does not plan to conduct a recount for the Aug. 11 primary.

In its statement, Lindell’s campaign attached an authorization form appearing to show an $825,000 transaction in progress as proof of “wire transfer readiness” for the potential audit, dated Monday morning.

The campaign is now asking the state officials to waive the Monday deadline until a court can rule on the alleged Minnesota law violations.

Knudson said that “next steps” for Lindell’s legal action against Simon and the Minnesota State Canvassing Board for their handling of the recount processes “will be decided by the court.”

“Our office provided the contingent recount plan to Mr. Lindell after it was approved by the State Canvassing Board on August 18. The plan follows state law and administrative rules on recount procedures and is consistent with previous recount plans,” she said.

The MyPillow founder currently owes the electronic voting system company Smartmatic $56,369 in sanctions following a defamation lawsuit — which his attorneys say he cannot afford. Lindell accused the company in several media appearances of rigging the 2020 presidential election, echoing President Trump’s similar false claims .

On Aug. 19, Lindell’s lawyers sent a letter to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan to file a motion to reconsider the ruling holding him liable for defamation.