MyPillow CEO photographed with notes after Trump meeting

Photographs of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell went viral Friday after social media users were able to catch glimpses of notes he was holding as he walked outside the White House following a meeting with President Trump.

Zoomed-in shots of the photographs, taken by Washington Post photographer Jabin Botsford, show the partially visible notes appearing to mention “martial law if necessary” and the “Insurrection Act,” an 1806 law that allows the president to mobilize the military and National Guard troops to quell civil disorder or actions of insurrection. 

The last time the act was invoked by a president was in 1992 in response to the Los Angeles riots following the acquittal of four white police officers in the beating of Rodney King. 

Another line in the photographed notes suggests moving Department of Defense chief of staff Kash Patel to “CIA Acting,” implying a proposal to move Patel to head the intelligence agency with just days left of the Trump administration. 

The notes also make mention of Sidney Powell, the pro-Trump lawyer who led multiple lawsuits challenging 2020 election results over unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud. 

@MyPillowUSA CEO Michael Lindell shows off his notes before going into the West Wing at the White House on Friday, Jan 15, 2021 in Washington, DC. pic.twitter.com/AY6AyJNSyE

— Jabin Botsford (@jabinbotsford) January 15, 2021

White House officials told The New York Times on Friday that nothing substantial to note came out of Lindell’s meeting with Trump, which the White House said lasted about five to 10 minutes. 

Lindell, who is popularly referred to by many as “the MyPillow guy,” has been a vocal supporter of Trump, especially in recent weeks, when the businessman has on Twitter advanced Trump’s unfounded claims of a “stolen” election. 

On Friday evening, Lindell tweeted screenshots of a document claiming to show that Trump had won 79 million votes in the 2020 election, compared with 68 million for President-elect Joe Biden. According to tallies by The Associated Press, Biden secured more than 81 million votes in the election, with Trump at approximately 74 million. 

On Jan. 6, in the aftermath of the pro-Trump mob attack on the Capitol, Lindell issued several tweets claiming that “antifa is responsible for the attacks.” The FBI last week said there was no evidence suggesting that members of the left-wing movement were involved in the deadly storming of the Capitol. 

The riot followed a “Stop the Steal” rally on the National Mall, where Trump urged his supporters to march to Congress to protest the certification of Biden’s win. Trump has since been impeached by the House with a charge of inciting the riot, in which five people died amid the chaos. 

This week, Lindell’s bedding company continued a “FightForTrump” discount code for its products, even after Trump for the first time admitted electoral defeat in recorded remarks the day after the Capitol attack. 

Lindell told both the Times and the Washington Examiner on Friday that the photographed notes were not, in fact, his, and that he was delivering a message given to him by an attorney, whom Lindell did not identify by name. 

“The attorney said, ‘Can you bring these to him,'” Lindell told the Times. “It was stuff to help the American people.”

MyPillow did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment on the photographed notes.