Donald Trump Meeting With MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell Raises Concerns Due to 'Martial Law' Documents

Daniel S. Levine

01/16/2021 12:10 am EST

President Donald Trump spent one of his last days in office meeting with one of his most fervent supporters, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who brought some shocking notes with him. The Washington Post photographer Jabin Botsford caught a photo of Lindell leaving the White House Friday, allowing many to see what Lindell possibly discussed with Trump. If Lindell really brought up the topics on his notes, he might have discussed deploying troops into the streets and invoking martial law.

In one line of the partially visible notes, Lindell appeared to suggest Trump should use the Insurrection Act to deploy active military troops and "martial law if necessary." Some on Twitter viewed this as a sign Trump is still thinking of ways to overturn the 2020 presidential election, even after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot led to his historic second impeachment on Wednesday. In another point, Lindell appeared to suggest Trump install Kash Patel, the Department of Defense chief of staff and Trump loyalist, as "C.I.A. acting." Lindell's notes also mentioned Sidney Powell, the lawyer, and conspiracy theorist.

White House press aides were reportedly surprised by the photos of the notes and were not aware of what happened during the meeting, reports The New York Times. Lindell did not respond to the Times to comment. He remains one of the few corporate CEOs to stick by Trump even after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol while Congress was certifying President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory. Lindell even appeared on Newsmax the same day as the riot, already pushing a baseless conspiracy theory that "Antifa" protesters pretended to be Trump supporters during the riot. Lindell has also continued to claim Trump would get a second term, even though Biden will be inaugurated on Jan. 20.

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After Lindell's meeting, Trump did not fire CIA Director Gina Haspel or order Patel to go to CIA headquarters, a source told the Times. However, sources told CNN Trump has talked with others about replacing Haspel with Pate in the past. He was "on the verge" of firing her several times, only to back down, including as recently as December. One option he considered was firing Haspel's deputy, Vaughn Bishop, and replacing him with Patel. Trump ultimately did not fire Haspel because aides told him this would be "counterproductive" in the last days of his presidency.

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Lindell did speak with CNN's Jim Acosta after meeting with Trump, saying the meeting only lasted about five minutes. He claimed he tried to give trump more evidence of so-called voter fraud and repeated many of the same disproven conspiracy theories Trump has shared since Nov. 3. Lindell insisted Biden did not win the election "because I've seen it," but did not say what it is he saw.

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