Idaho bills MyPillow CEO for election audit that showed no fraud

MyPillow CEO and Trump ally Mike Lindell has reportedly been billed for his false election fraud claims after officials in Idaho audited ballots to prove him wrong.

Idaho’s state secretary, Chad Houck, told a local newspaper that while no fraud was found in his recount of ballots in three of Idaho’s 44 counties, Mr Lindell will be billed roughly $6,500 (£4,700).

Mr Houck told the Idaho Statseman on Thursday that after his office recounted a handful of ballots that were “low hanging fruit”, an Idaho resident recommend Mr Lindell be billed.

Recounts in three small states were within a percentage of the original tally of 2020’s results, Mr Houck said, and showed that Mr Lindell’s allegations were “fabrications”.

“As we looked at how much exposure this particular set of data had gotten in the last several weeks, we felt it was reasonable to, at first, just look at the counties that had no electronic means,” said Mr Houck.

“Our premise was, if we could get in and out of two of those counties in a day, and in a day disprove the theory of what was being alleged there, that would be a good use of time.”

In what is referred to as the “Big Lie”, Mr Lindell had wrongly accused Idaho officials of “electronically manipulating” ballots in all 44 Idaho counties — but as Mr Houck highlighted, at least seven counties do not have the technology.

He told the Statesman that his office was also “looking into” taking legal action against Mr Lindell if he does not pay the $6,500 bill.

It is not the first time false allegations of 2020 election fraud have been proven wrong, after officials in Arizona admitted that an audit of its most populous county found that the election was “free, fair and accurate”.

Both Mr Lindell and Mr Trump have been heavily criticised for furthering claims of election fraud, nine months after the former US president left office.

The MyPillow CEO last month reportedly sold his private airplane to fund his defence of a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion, a company who own and operate electronic voting machines in the US.