The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

FBI seizes phone from election denier Douglas Frank, a Mike Lindell associate

September 15, 2022 at 2:04 p.m. EDT
Douglas Frank speaks during the Nebraska Election Integrity Forum on Aug. 27 in Omaha,. (Rebecca S. Gratz/AP)
3 min

Hours after FBI agents investigating an alleged breach of voting machines in Colorado seized a cellphone belonging to MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, agents also served a search warrant on Lindell associate and fellow election denier Douglas Frank, Frank said early Thursday.

Frank is a longtime math and science teacher in Ohio who claims to have discovered secret algorithms used to rig the 2020 election and who has done work for Lindell. In a Telegram post shortly after midnight, he said two FBI agents met him as he stepped off a plane.

“They had a warrant to confiscate my phone,” wrote Frank, who did not identify the airport.

Asked about his account, the FBI’s Denver field office acknowledged that a court-approved warrant was served but provided no specifics.

Lindell on Tuesday said that FBI agents served him with a warrant and questioned him about Tina Peters, the Mesa County, Colo., clerk who was indicted in March on state charges that she helped an outsider copy sensitive data from the county’s elections systems in May 2021. Peters has pleaded not guilty.

The Mesa County probe is one of multiple investigations underway into alleged security breaches of local elections offices in states that also include Michigan and Georgia. The alleged breaches, which occurred in some cases with the help of like-minded local officials, were aimed at finding evidence that the machines were used to rig the election.

Search warrant documents that Lindell displayed during his online show Tuesday evening stated that federal investigators were seeking evidence of possible violations by Lindell, Peters and several others — including Frank — of federal laws against identity theft and intentional damage to a protected computer.

Frank met with Peters at her office in April 2021 and “showed her how her election was hacked,” Frank previously told The Post. He said he told her that an upcoming Dominion software update could erase data needed to show that the election was stolen, and he relayed to someone in Lindell’s circle her request for technical help copying that data.

Prosecutors have accused Peters of participating in a scheme to allow Conan Hayes, a former professional surfer and purported data expert, to gain access to Mesa County election systems and copy sensitive files in May 2021. Peters allegedly helped arrange for Hayes to access the building with a badge assigned to another person. Hayes has not been charged.

“I did nothing illegal,” Frank told The Post via text message Wednesday morning, in response to an inquiry related to the warrant that had been served on Lindell. He did not immediately respond to inquiries sent by text and Telegram on Thursday.

The Post reported last year that Frank was traveling the country, trying to persuade local and state officials to join the effort to expose alleged election fraud. At the time, Frank said he had visited more than 30 states and met with 100 election administrators.

Lindell acknowledged at the time that he had hired Frank for several projects but said he was not aware of all of Frank’s activities. Lindell said then and again this week that he had nothing to do with the copying of sensitive election files in Mesa County and did not meet Peters until months later, when she came to a “cyber symposium” event Lindell held in South Dakota to spread claims of fraud.