(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that a federal court unsealed the key search warrant records behind the Biden FBI’s September 2022 seizure of Mike Lindell’s cell phone (In the Matter of the Search of a Person Located in the District of Minnesota (No. 22-mj-742 (TNL))). The records, unsealed at the request of Judicial Watch and Mike Lindell, show that the Biden FBI used private litigant Dominion Voting Systems’ then-pending $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit against Mike Lindell and others (a lawsuit that had been settled as to Lindell earlier this year) as well as other information from Dominion as part of its justification for seeking the warrant.
On September 7, 2022, the FBI obtained a warrant from U.S. Magistrate Judge Tony N. Leung to search “the person of Michael Lindell,” seize his phone, and use his fingerprints or face to unlock it. The FBI already had nearly two years of Lindell’s phone and Apple account records. The FBI obtained warrants to track Lindell through his phone’s location a week before the warrant for the phone seizure was issued.
According to Lindell, as he was returning from a hunting trip in Iowa on September 13, 2022, four plainclothes FBI agents in three unmarked vehicles surrounded him at a Hardee’s drive-through lane in Mankato, Minnesota. The unmarked vehicles had followed Lindell all the way from Iowa. They took his phone and questioned him about Dominion voting machines.
The unredacted portion of the 80-page affidavit shows how central Dominion was to the government’s case. The FBI told the court:
Lindell has a personal financial motive to find evidence undermining the integrity of Dominion machines, as he is facing substantial litigation from Dominion based on Lindell’s disparaging statements about the machines.
The unsealed affidavit also:
- listed interviews with, and records from, Dominion witnesses among its principal sources;
- relied on “Dominion officials” for the claim that copies of Mesa County, Colorado’s election system contained “proprietary Dominion data and software;”
- devoted a section to Lindell’s public statements “Linking His Ongoing Litigation Against Dominion to the Mesa County Incident;” and
- authorized agents to seize everything on Lindell’s phone relating to “any Dominion computerized voting system.”
The affidavit further alleged that the phone held evidence of identity theft, damage to a protected computer, and conspiracy. The allegations were tied to the May 2021 copying of Mesa County’s Dominion election system, and the affidavit relied mainly on Lindell’s phone contacts with, and payments to, a redacted individual. Despite the affidavit’s claim that there was probable cause to believe a crime was committed, the FBI never charged Lindell or anyone else.
The newly unsealed records also show that, as recently as March 2026, the Justice Department sought to keep evidence of the FBI’s coordination with Dominion secret by requesting another one-year extension of the seal, arguing that disclosure would “prejudice the government’s ongoing investigation.” On July 30, 2026, lawyers for Judicial Watch and Lindell told the Justice Department that they would move to intervene and unseal. The Justice Department responded that it “would move on its own to unseal those materials,” and it did so on August 17 after redacting certain sections of the documents. The affidavit and application were placed on the public docket on August 28.
Judicial Watch and Lindell then identified nine additional sealed docket entries and filed a consent motion to unseal them. The motion noted that “America has a long history of distrust of secret proceedings.” U.S. Magistrate Judge Jon T. Huseby granted the motion on September 14, 2026, and the remaining records, including the sealing petitions, were subsequently made public.
“It is a travesty that the prior administration relied on information provided by a private litigant in existing litigation to obtain a warrant to seize the telephone of an opposing litigant,” said Mike Lindell.
“These unsealed court documents show Mike Lindell is a victim of Biden FBI lawfare and abuse,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Dominion Voting Systems was suing Mike Lindell for $1.3 billion, and the Biden FBI chose to rely on this private lawsuit as a reason for armed federal agents to seize his phone at a fast-food drive-through. All of this, and Lindell was never charged with anything. Thanks to Judicial Watch, Americans can now see how the Biden FBI weaponized federal law enforcement against a prominent critic of the 2020 election.”
The unsealing is part of Judicial Watch’s investigation into whether federal law enforcement agencies abused their powers to target allies of a political opponent. Judicial Watch is also suing the Justice Department for records about its investigations of Lindell (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 25-cv-03850)). It has also moved to unseal warrant materials targeting Rudy Giuliani, Victoria Toensing, and Michael Caputo.
Barbara Podlucky Berens of Berens & Miller, P.A., in Minneapolis, together with Michael Bekesha and Sean O’Donnell of Judicial Watch, represent Judicial Watch and Lindell in this matter.
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