National radio host Todd Starnes told listeners not to be intimidated or bullied by the FBI after dozens of raids on Trump supporters, including MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
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Below is a rushed transcript from the Todd Starnes Show:
TODD STARNES: [00:00:41] And hello, America. I am Todd Starnes and we are broadcasting from Atlanta or just north of Atlanta, Georgia, in Gainesville, Georgia, at our great affiliate WDUN. And I’m sure the FBI already knows all about that. Wow. We’ve got a lot going on today, everybody, and a lot to get to. Breaking news developments even as you and I speak and hang out together on the radio. Border to border. Coast to coast, across the fruited plain. Now, last night, we got word from our good friend, Mike Lindell that he has become the latest target of the Federal Bureau of Investigation cut number one. [00:01:22][41.5]
MIKE LINDELL: [00:01:24] Today, the FBI, you’re going to hear this and you’re probably already hearing in the news. The FBI came after me and took my phone and surrounded me in a Hardees and took my phone. I run all my business. Everything with, they could have just… What we’ve done is weaponize. The FBI is disgusting. I don’t have a computer. Everything I do on my phone. Everything was on there. And they told me not to tell anybody. Here’s an order not to. Don’t tell anybody. Okay. I won’t. Well, I am. [00:01:48][23.8]
TODD STARNES: [00:02:00] So all right. There’s that. You heard it from Mike Lindell. And we can confirm through the FBI that agents did, in fact, stop him during a run at Hardee’s restaurant. This all happened as Mike was heading back from a hunting trip. He was in the drive-thru at a Hardee’s, and all of a sudden he was surrounded by all these FBI agents. Now, personally, I think the most interesting part of the story is the fact that Mike Lindell likes to eat at Hardee’s. And of course, Hardee’s is now responding. And we’ll get to their response in just a few moments. Very clever, the folks who run Hardee’s Twitter page. But Mike Lindell was ordered to surrender his cell phone. And he Mike did what we have been instructing you to do in the event that you get the knock on the door, you get accosted in the Hardee’s drive-thru by the FBI is that you immediately call your attorney. You don’t talk to the FBI. The FBI, ladies, and gentlemen, is not your friend. And I don’t care who you are, Republican or Democrat, you need to immediately lawyer up. If the FBI has a question for you, they can wait until your legal counsel arrives on the scene. Because the feds, the government, they are not your friend. They will try and twist everything you say. And again, I, I, I hearken back to the 1960s when the FBI was literally wagin really a terrorism unit targeted at members of the civil rights community, including Martin Luther King Jr. So anyway, poor Mike Lindell, the founder of Mypillow and a great supporter of this radio program. By the way, a sponsor of this radio program, Mike Lindell, was ordered to hand over his cell phone. He was then questioned for about 15 minutes and interviewed for about 15 minutes. The agents presented him with a search and seizure warrant. And it’s our understanding that Mike Lindell actually shared the gospel message with one of the agents. And hopefully, just hopefully that message took hold. He was not arrested. So we reached out. Mike, has been a long-time friend and I actually we have exchanged a number of text messages the over the years. And so I sent him a note this morning, Grace Baker asking for if he would come on the program and explain what went down. And he replied almost immediately that he would. And then I realized, Grace Baker. Wait a second. Mike Lindell may not be in control of his own cell phone right now. I could very well be talking to some sort of a government agent posing as Mike Lindell. [00:04:56][175.5]
GRACE BAKER: [00:04:56] That’s true. Todd, we don’t know exactly who you were corresponding with there. [00:05:00][3.4]
TODD STARNES: [00:05:00] So and so then, Grace, what did I do? I gave Mike’s number to you to call so that he could call our listener line. And now the FBI may, in fact, have your number. [00:05:04][3.3]
GRACE BAKER: [00:05:12] I know, Todd. Listen, if they come for me and they take Merlot, there will be protests in the streets, I have no doubt. [00:05:18][6.5]
TODD STARNES: [00:05:19] Oh, yeah. There’s no way they’re getting Merlot. [00:05:21][1.9]
GRACE BAKER: [00:05:21] No, no way. And I’m the national treasure. [00:05:23][1.8]
TODD STARNES: [00:05:25] So anyway, I’m sending Lindell. So I sent him a follow-up message, and I say, not sure if you got your phone back from the Gestapo. [00:05:32][7.2]
GRACE BAKER: [00:05:33] Oh, oh. Any reply there? [00:05:36][2.4]
TODD STARNES: [00:05:37] So no reply at this point. [00:05:38][1.5]
GRACE BAKER: [00:05:39] Yeah, I haven’t gotten anything. [00:05:40][0.8]
TODD STARNES: [00:05:41] So I don’t know. I will say this, Grace, last night as I was getting this information and again, this is all about intimidation, the FBI is sending a message and the message is if you are a Trump supporter, we don’t care who you are, we will come after you. It doesn’t matter if you’re a guy who owns a pillow company. It doesn’t matter if you’re a campaign supporter. It doesn’t matter if you are a talk radio host. The FBI is coming after you. We know last week the FBI issued at least 50 raids on Trump supporters simply because they support President Trump. So Grace, here I am sitting at the hotel last night in Atlanta, and I’m wondering to myself, when is the door going to burst open and when will the FBI agents be coming in demanding my phone? [00:06:34][53.4]
GRACE BAKER: [00:06:35] Obviously, Todd to they don’t care where you are. I mean, he was at a flipping Hardees. What’s next? You’re going to be at Chick-Fil-A getting your sweet tea and it’s like, boom, it’s like I was just trying to have my lunch. Give me a break. [00:06:48][13.4]
TODD STARNES: [00:06:49] Hardee’s put out a tweet. Now you know that we exist. You should really try our pillowy biscuits. [00:06:54][5.3]
GRACE BAKER: [00:06:55] That’s clever. Got to give them that. [00:06:56][1.1]
STARNES: [00:06:57] Very good biscuits, by the way. [00:06:58][1.3]
GRACE BAKER: [00:06:59] Don’t think I’ve ever been to Hardee’s. So I was like, I’ve heard the name, but I was like, I don’t even know what they serve. [00:07:03][4.0]
TODD STARNES: [00:07:04] It’s a fine fast food restaurant and they deserve a whole lot better than this. But I can tell you, I think the people at Chick-fil-A if the FBI tried to stage a raid, would push back. Not on our property. You get out of here, FBI agent, it is not our pleasure to serve you. [00:07:09][5.7]
GRACE BAKER: [00:07:19] Exactly. I think that’s what they would say. [00:07:21][1.6]
TODD STARNES: [00:07:21] That’s exactly I think that’s exactly what they would say. But the message here, you know, I’m sitting there last night, Grace, and again, I’ve covered politics for years. We’ve been in more fights over, it’s just you get used to this kind of stuff. But even in spite of all of that, you’re reading about Mike Lindell, and here I am sitting in this beautiful hotel in, in Atlanta, and I’m thinking to myself, Well, what should I do? You know, if the FBI comes knocking on my door and they want you. And the whole point is they want you to think about that because they believe is going to intimidate you. [00:08:00][39.0]
GRACE BAKER: [00:08:00] Yeah. And live in fear. That’s what they would like. [00:08:02][1.7]
TODD STARNES: [00:08:03] That’s all they want. You support Donald Trump. There could be a knock on your door at 3:00 in the morning if that’s the message here. I mean, it is it’s very simple and sadly, it’s very effective because there are a lot of people who are diehard Trump supporters. And, you know what? Their free speech is going to be chilled because they don’t want the knock on the door. They don’t want to be sitting at church singing, you know, Love lifted me. And all of a sudden they’re being dragged out of the church house by armed government goons. Nobody wants that. And the idea that we, right now, ladies and gentlemen, live in a nation where we have to live in fear of that, is that the kind of a country you want? I mean, I hear what the Republicans are saying, but if in fact, they do get the majority in the midterm elections, they’re not only must there be hearings, there must be justice served. People need to go to jail for what they are doing, this weaponization of our federal government. We pay the salaries of those FBI agents. We paid the salaries of the Internal Revenue Service agents. And we know this is all coming from Barack Hussein Obama. We know that ladies and gentlemen because that’s exactly how they operated. The government during the eight years of the Obama administration. You stand against Obama, you’re going to pay a price. And a lot of us did. A lot of us paid that price. But I’m prepared. Look, I’m not going to be intimidated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. And they may try to knock down the doors of my radio studio. They may try to take away my cell phone. But I’m not saying a word. I got a telephone call out of the blue. And this is why I’m suspect now, because just out of the blue, a few weeks ago, I got a telephone call or rather an email message from a Forbes magazine reporter demanding to know what I was doing at Mar-a-Lago recently. Well, first of all, it’s none of their blasted business, what I was doing at Mar-a-Lago. But since we are all friends, I will tell you that I’m working on a new book. And the president graciously agreed to sit down for an interview for my book. The Forbes magazin people were demanding to know if the president shared any confidential information with me. Well, that’s none of their business. And they want to find out what the president said. They’re going to have to buy a copy of my book. But I got to thinking, in light of what happened with Mike Lindell, I got to thinking, well, wait a second. What if we’re on somebody’s radar? What if they really do want to know what was happening during that interview down at Mar-a-Lago, which, by the way, we had recorded? Well, I can tell you this. They’re not they’re not getting diddly squat from yours truly folks. We’re not going to play that game. I’m not going to be intimidated and I’m not going to be bullied by the FBI. And you should not either. This is an outrage. And ladies and gentlemen, I know it is probably terrifying for a lot of you, especially if you are new to politics. Maybe Donald Trump excited you and you decided to get involved in the campaign and become a supporter. Maybe like many, like many Americans, they believe that there were shenanigans in the last presidential election. Maybe there are some of you out there who are young Americans and you’ve never experienced anything like this. And you’re worried. You’re worried about getting the knock on the door. You cannot let that control your life. You cannot allow yourself to be bullied or intimidated by federal agents. You just can’t do it, folks. That’s what they want us to be. That’s what they want us to do. But we cannot do that. We’ve got to take a stand here as painful and as scary as it may be. Just like when the FBI was dispatched at the request of the Biden administration to go and bully and intimidate moms and dads who stood up at school board meetings. What happened? Well, in the wake of that, more moms and dads stood up at school board meetings. So we’ve got to take a stand here. We also need to take a stand with Mike Lindell. And what does that mean? Well, it means we need to go and support his company. And we’ve got our own page, mypillow.com/starnes. And I would encourage you to go and buy something and show your support for Mike Lindell. We’ll talk about that a little bit later. But I’m curious to hear your take on the latest FBI raid. The FBI stopping Mike Lindell at a Hardee’s drive-thru in the middle of nowhere, which means they were tracking the guy. They’re probably tracking all of us. Are you intimidated? Are you going to be bullied? [00:12:44][281.4]