Mike Lindell’s belligerent Dominion depositions: Hawking MyPillow dog blankets on Steve Bannon’s podcast and scaring away court reporters

• Ex-Dominion executive Eric Coomer deposed Mike Lindell three times in a defamation lawsuit.
• Lindell insulted him, his lawyers, the judge, and took a break to go on Steve Bannon's podcast.
• Coomer asked a judge to sanction him and provided footage of the depositions.

Over the past year, Mike Lindell sat for three depositions in a defamation lawsuit brought by Eric Coomer, a former Dominion Voting Systems executive who was the subject of a false conspiracy theory that he was on an "Antifa conference call" to rig the 2020 election.

None of them went well.

Throughout the depositions, the MyPillow CEO called Coomer and his lawyer "criminals," "disgusting slime," and "evil" and rambled so much that the court reporter transcribing one deposition refused to show up the next day, according to court filings and deposition video and transcripts reviewed by Insider.

During the final deposition, on August 23, Lindell left the room in the middle of questioning to call into Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast, where he hawked his company's pillows, sandals, and dog blankets.

"Well, Steve, I'm in the middle of a deposition for a big attack on MyPillow right now, and it's disgusting," Lindell told Bannon during the episode, before telling listeners they could get a discount on pillows with the promo code "WARROOM" for the company's 20th-anniversary sale.

"We have the MyPillow beds — the best beds in history," Lindell continued. "You haven't even heard about 'em yet."

"Mike Lindell, you're a patriot and a hero," Bannon responded. "Go back into your deposition and give them hell. Give them hell from the War Room."

When Lindell returned to the deposition, he insisted on keeping his cellphone with him, according to a filing from Coomer's legal team. When he stood up to take a call in the middle of questioning, Coomer's lawyers called it a day.

"Dr. Coomer's counsel finally suspended the deposition when Mr. Lindell again stood up and walked out of the room to take a call, shouting that Dr. Coomer's counsel was a 'jerk' as he left," Coomer's lawyers wrote. "The video record of these events is provided herein and is demonstrably worse than any attempt to describe the conduct."

Lindell plans to go on the offense

The details of the depositions were recounted in a motion Coomer's attorneys filed Thursday asking a judge to sanction Lindell for his conduct.

The motion asked the judge to force Lindell to pay for all the costs associated with the depositions and to force him to sit in front of a judge for seven hours to finish answering questions.

Coomer asked for sanctions against Lindell alone and not his attorneys, noting that he "recognizes the challenges associated with representing such an unmanageable client."

"How do you guys sleep at night?" Lindell asked Coomer's lawyers in a March 9 deposition. "You obviously don't have a MyPillow. That's a fact."

In an interview with Insider on Friday, Lindell called Coomer's lawyers "creepy" and "evil."

"They're just frivolous, horrible, evil lawyers," he said. "I've done a lot of depositions and they're a different breed."

He said he had to take a personal "emergency call" before the deposition ended, and that Coomer's lawyers were aware it was coming. He also said the interview with Bannon was prescheduled.

"They scheduled this deposition. And I said, 'I have a podcast every day for 10 minutes,'" Lindell said.

Lindell also told Insider he plans to sue Coomer, and rattled off other purported litigation efforts to challenge election technology.

"We're going to file to get rid of the machines that goes in two counties in Texas," he said. "We're taking what's-her-name in Wisconsin."

Coomer's lawsuit against Lindell and two of his companies — MyPillow and social media platform FrankSpeech — is distinct from litigation brought by Dominion, which has also sued Lindell in a case that remains pending.

Following threats to his life because of conspiracy theories that he manipulated the election results, Coomer filed a hail of lawsuits against right-wing influencers and media organizations he claims defamed him. Newsmax and One America News have each settled lawsuits brought by Coomer.

Lindell has attempted to go on the offense with countersuits against both Dominion and Smartmatic, a rival election technology company, baselessly advancing voter fraud claims. A federal judge dismissed his counterclaims and sanctioned Lindell for frivolous filings.

Lindell says his pillow company has nothing to do with his election claims

In the Coomer case, Lindell has been "combative, vulgar, disrespectful, non-responsive, evasive, and consistently loud," using "rapid-fire filibusters" and refusing to answer questions during depositions, according to Coomer's lawyers.

"When reprimanded for his constant non-responsiveness, even by his own counsel, Mr. Lindell responded, 'I'm so sorry, Your Highness,' and continued with the exact same conduct," Coomer's lawyers wrote.

Lindell's speechifying during one deposition moved so fast that a court reporter transcribing it "refused to come back for a second day and had to be replaced," according to the sanctions filing.

Lindell insists he will win. In the March 8 deposition, he expressed frustration that US District Judge Nina Wang, who is overseeing the case, had permitted discovery to go forward without ruling on his motion to dismiss Coomer's lawsuit.

He said it was "disgusting to our country" that Wang allowed the depositions to take place, and said he was aware she would be able to see his comments.

"I got a problem with the judge not making a ruling," Lindell said. "So there. Now go ahead. Now that the judge has that on record, now you don't have to worry about what me and the judge think about each other." After the deposition, Wang denied Lindell's motion.

Lindell has argued against the premise that MyPillow — which has used discount codes like "Dominion" and other phrases he associates with his fight against election fraud — should be held liable for his own views on the 2020 election.

He also bemoaned his own reputation changing.

"I'm branded as now 'election,' not 'MyPillow guy," Lindell testified.

During the depositions, Lindell fiercely guarded his pillow company's brand and bristled at any suggestion that one of its latest products, the MyPillow 2.0, could be subpar.

When shown a customer complaint that referenced "lumpy pillows," he erupted at Coomer's attorney.

"You don't have a MyPillow 2, don't you?" Lindell snarled. "Asshole."