Trump’s MyPillow Ally’s Election Lies Cost Him Every Night
Mike Lindell is racking up court fines as he refuses to pay a legal judgment.

Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images
MyPillow CEO and Donald Trump loyalist Mike Lindell is racking up hundreds of dollars’ worth of court fines each night for spreading debunked conspiracy theories about Trump’s 2020 election loss.
Lindell, who is running for governor of Minnesota with Trump’s endorsement, was ordered to pay $56,369 to the voting-machine company Smartmatic USA after the company successfully sued him for defamation last year.
He was held in contempt of court for failing to pay the judgment, and has been fined $500 every day since April 7, NBC News reported.
As of Thursday, Lindell had racked up $56,500 and counting in fines—more than the original unpaid judgment.
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He told the court in January that he didn’t have the money to pay Smartmatic, despite his campaign spending $187,000 to buy his own books and finance other legal proceedings, NBC reported.
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Lindell was also found liable in June 2025 for defaming a former employee of Dominion Voting Systems.

Mike Lindell claimed Satan rigged the 2020 election.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
If he doesn’t pay the Smartmatic judgment by August 21, he could face additional court sanctions, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ruled in a court order last month.
The judgment is not eligible to receive a presidential pardon from Trump.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Lindell’s campaign for comment on whether he plans to pay the fines.
Lindell is considered the frontrunner in the August 11 GOP primary for the Minnesota governor’s race after Trump declared him “one of America’s greatest and most hard working Patriots” in a Truth Social post earlier this month.

Truth Social/Donald J. Trump
Both Trump and Lindell have spent years spreading lies about Trump’s 2020 loss to former President Joe Biden, with Lindell going so far as to claim that “Satan” rigged the election.
Hours after two U.S. soldiers died in the president’s war on Iran over the weekend of July 15, Trump appeared at a gala at his Bedminster National Golf Club in New Jersey that also featured Lindell.
Later that week, it was revealed that Lindell isn’t even registered to vote in Minnesota, where he is originally from, and has instead maintained a residence in Texas.
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