More than that, if North Korea enters the bidding.
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Too true. Somebody needs to put a pillow over his mouth and hold it there . . . for a long time.
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Is he suing for an order of fries that got cold while the FBI was seizing his phone?
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Mr. Lindell, next time you go to Hardee’s or anywhere else remember to bring your toothbrush along.
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Gang as if we haven’t had enough fun, joy and happiness today…
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And that’s after whatever he sold to Bonesaw to clean up Kush’s debt.
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I just read the factual allegations in the complaint, which are verified by Lindell. Some of his claims seem possible but unlikely.
For example, he claims the FBI boxed him in to prevent him from leaving, then questioned him about several crime-pertinent matters for 20-25 minutes, all without reading him his Miranda rights. It’s true that law enforcement sometimes does that to elicit statements that – although not admissible as part of their case in chief – can be used in various other ways like:
- as impeachment if the defendant testifies otherwise,
- to lead to other evidence which will be admissible, or
- to be used as evidence against someone other than the declarant.
But it seems unlikely that they would have done that with a high-profile, lawyered-up potential defendant like Lindell.
If there is any contradictory audio or video recording of this stop (maybe Hardee’s has a security camera?), Lindell may be in trouble for false statements.
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And you know he’s hitting the Hardee’s toilet shortly after eating Hardee’s.
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I don’t know. Honestly, the First, Fourth, Fifth (?)(!) and Sixth Amendment claims are crap.
But, an argument could be made that the FBI can transfer his passwords and hearing aid app to another phone without jeopardizing their investigation. Not sure why they wouldn’t do that.
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Hercules is just batting for Ares now.
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So, the legal question is whether he was “in custody” for Miranda purposes. He may have been “boxed in” as you describe, but if he said “I want to leave” and they wouldn’t let him, or if he said “I want my lawyer” and they continued questioning him, that would be problematic. He doesn’t say that either of those happened, so it’s unlikely they did.
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The NewAbnormal commented yesterday that he had already replaced his phone with a new one, and had downloaded much of his data from the cloud.
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Who is Sue Hardee? Does she own a pillow? Did Mike give her one? (No giggles, please)
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Mike Lindell is a big part of this propaganda ecosystem of intolerance.
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If he’s telling the truth it shouldn’t take long to copy the phone contents and return it. If he’s got military grade encryption on it that takes a long time to crack, then he’s a bigger, smarter liar than I gave him credit.
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IF he wasn’t under arrest, the Miranda rule doesn’t apply.
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You’re right… all the factual prerequisites for application of Miranda would have to be shown, just like any other case. And if they don’t try to offer Lindell’s statements in a criminal case-in-chief against him none of it matters anyway. (Although the lawsuit mentions Miranda, no claim is based on deprivation of those rights.)
But my point was not that a Miranda challenge would necessarily succeed. My point was this does not seem like typical FBI behavior in a high-profile case and could be false statements.
Here’s why I say that. In my experience, when the FBI chooses the time and place, their behavior is usually intentional and pre-planned. I have read tons of FBI 302s where the interview takes place at the subject’s home or in a neutral setting, the agent asks the subject if they want water or something to eat, etc., all to help establish the non-custodial, voluntary nature of the interview. They try to avoid creating possible Miranda issues if they can.
BTW, I also believe that, in cases where the subject is a person of influence, the FBI (like other law enforcement agencies) subscribes to the philosophy that there is “one law for the common man, another for the king.” Call me jaded…
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