Police release photo of man accused of ‘aggressively poking’ MyPillow’s Mike Lindell as witness mocks case

The Sioux Falls Police have released a picture of the man suspected of “aggressively poking” CEO and Trump supporter Mike Lindell at South Dakota’s cyber symposium.

The police department put out a photo of the suspect on Twitter, which was taken “at a hotel near Russell St and West Ave last Wednesday night, Aug 11”.

After the alleged incident, MyPillow CEO Lindell took to the stage and attempted to prove baseless election fraud claims.

A GOP candidate for Congress who says he witnessed the alleged assault at the cyber symposium says the incident is more of a “nothing burger”.

Jeffrey Buongiorno, a Republican running for office in Florida and a supporter of former President Donald Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election, wrote in a series of tweets that Mr Lindell appeared fine as he rode the elevator up to his room following the encounter with a man who he claimed “aggressively poked” him.

The incident took place over Mr Lindell’s multi-day event last week in South Dakota, where he vowed to present evidence showing that Mr Trump had indeed been the rightful victor of the 2020 election. That proof never came, and when asked about it, the CEO responded that his team had data that it did not want reporters to fact-check.

“I took both pictures at the time Lindell claimed he was attacked,” wrote Mr Buongiorno, who attached a picture of Mr Lindell smiling next to a man in a suit while the alleged culprit smiles in the background, apparently awaiting his own selfie.

“It pains me to do this but I support law enforcement and in my opinion, this is a nothing burger. The elevators are glass, and witnesses saw Lindell go up to the 6th floor,” Mr Buongiorno added.

“There was no attack,” he told the Associated Press.

At no point did Mr Lindell appear to be physically attacked by the man, according to Mr Buongiorno’s account. The Independent has reached out to Mr Lindell for his take on the events. The MyPillow CEO did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Mr Lindell initially described the incident as him being “attacked...physically” by the unidentified man, and later said he was “aggressively poked” by the man who wanted his picture taken.

“It happened pretty fast, but the guy knew what he was doing,” Mr Lindell said, while calling it “one of the worst attacks on me I’ve ever had”.

Despite their repeated claims, top administration officials at the Justice Department and other areas of the federal government have stated repeatedly throughout both the Biden administration and end of the Trump administration that no widespread fraud had been found affecting the 2020 election.