Anderson cooper: welcome to the whole story. I'm anderson cooper. Since his defeat in 2020, former president donald trump has repeatedly and falsely claimed the election was stolen, the result somehow rigged by democrats. There's no evidence of widespread voter fraud, but that hasn't stopped mr. Trump and his allies from relentlessly pushing these lies. Now, many of those same allies are gathering again, ready to claim fraud if the former president is once again defeated in november. Cnn's donie o'sullivan spent the past few months with some of trump's biggest promoters, who continued to spread doubts about the security of the election and are doing whatever they can to ensure trump win. He begins with the most famous pillow salesman in america. [music playing] donie o'sullivan: how are you? my name is donie o'sullivan. Woman: ok, tony. Donie o'sullivan: donie. Man: johnny o'sullivan. Donie o'sullivan: no, not johnny, like johnny mitchell. Man: tony? donie o'sullivan: donie woman: donie? man: are you an irish boy? donie o'sullivan: yes. Man: god bless you. So am i. Donie o'sullivan: as a journalist, i spend most of my time traveling across the country, talking to people. Man: my name is go [bleep] yourself. Donie o'sullivan: and are you from ohio? about who they are. Man: i committed to dressing like a crusader maybe five, six years ago. Donie o'sullivan: and how they see the world. Man: if you tell me you're going to release the kraken, show me the freaking kraken, for crying out loud. Donie o'sullivan: jfk. Woman 1: senior. Woman 2: senior. Donie o'sullivan: is jesus reincarnated. All while trying to keep an open mind. Woman: biden has never been inside the white house. They are at tyler perry studios in atlanta. Donie o'sullivan: as conspiracy theories hurt regular people. Woman 1: we will get through this. Woman 2: it's caused me to lose my son. Donie o'sullivan: and lies leads to violence. Man: bringing live rounds right now and shooting people. Donie o'sullivan: i think we better move beyond this police line. In this land of misinformation. Man: get that out of my face. Donie o'sullivan: i'm waiting for the mypillow guy. Presenter: it's happening now. Other things happening now. The great replacement theory. You all know that name, right? they want to replace american citizens who love the country with people who have no love for the country. Michael lindell: mypillow sandals, $25. And for the first time ever donie o'sullivan: last time i saw mike in person was about three years ago at his cyber symposium in south dakota, where he said he was going to prove the 2020 election was stolen. Michael lindell: there's hacks in cyber attacks every day. Donie o'sullivan: he didn't. Michael lindell: so i don't need your people to go out and doctor the evidence and put out on, mike lindell's a conspiracy theoriest. Donie o'sullivan: so you haven't somehow, three years later, he's still doing what he's doing. I'm still doing what i'm doing. Neither of us are the better for it. I bet you this is him. Is this this seems like mike's convoy. Michael lindell: hey, there's my buddy! donie o'sullivan: mike! michael lindell: what's going on? donie o'sullivan: how are you doing? [chuckles] it's been a long time. Michael lindell: what's going on? how you doing? donie o'sullivan: welcome to las vegas. Michael lindell: good to see you. Donie o'sullivan: did you just landed? michael lindell: a lot of history here. Did you ever read my book? i lived here for a while. A lot of bad things. Donie o'sullivan: we'd come to las vegas to meet the country's most famous pillow salesman. Look michael lindell: are you going to pay attention this time? donie o'sullivan: i'll try. I'll try. And one of the country's biggest election deniers. Man: (singing) by the dawn's early light. Donie o'sullivan: mike was in town for a couple of mega events. The election was still seven months away, but here, it was all about getting trump back into the white house. Woman: yeah, my husband has this one. Donie o'sullivan: it felt like half tent revival. Man: because we're just talking to god right now. Donie o'sullivan: sure. Man: father god, i just thank you for donie, lord. Donie o'sullivan: half trump rally. Man: where's all the media that's snaking around here? you can come right up here. Donie o'sullivan: or it seemed like everyone was selling something. Movies. Michael flynn: i'm going to shamelessly plug my movie. Number one on amazon of all dvds that's sold on amazon. Donie o'sullivan: and miracles. Woman: balances the brain hemispheres. Donie o'sullivan: ok. Woman: yeah. Man: you allow the cells to detox and come back into harmony with the body. Donie o'sullivan: i feel like i'm being abducted by aliens or something. But mike was here to sell more than pillows. He was on a crusade to save american democracy. Presenter: it's thursday, 18 april, the year of our lord, 2024. Crowd: trump! trump! trump! trump! trump! trump! trump! trump! trump! trump! trump! trump! stephen k. Bannon: we've got the great mike lindell up here. [cheering] and no, we're not going to start with an infomercial on lumpy pillows or free shipping. Michael lindell: promo code war room. Man: hey, mike. How are you? donie o'sullivan: can we go here? michael lindell: i think last time you interviewed me, i lost my voice. Remember that? donie o'sullivan: yeah, back in 2021? michael lindell: yeah. Donie o'sullivan: mike, it's three years on. Michael lindell: right. Donie o'sullivan: you're still doing this? michael lindell: yeah. Got to save our country, huh? donie o'sullivan: there's a lot of people in this for cynical reasons, right? to make money, to get famous. You strike me as somebody who truly, truly believes the 2020 election was rigged? michael lindell: you can't see i'm a grifter when i'm $40 million in and they keep attacking my company, and i'm decimated. My battle is to get rid of the machines and get to paper ballots handcounted. It's not about a conspiracy of overturning the 2020 election. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): but mike did try to overturn the 2020 election, something he doesn't like pointed out. Michael lindell: you would want it to be the best in the world, but this isn't about the 2020 election. What they're going to show donie o'sullivan: what am i going to learn here tonight? michael lindell: what you're going to learn is that their computers that are used our election have god keys, decryption keys in there. They have the passcodes inside them, and they're on the internet, and they're using software that was illegal, and that's what the supreme court will see themselves. Now, don't you think the judge should at least open up and say, hey, you guys, we got a big problem here, and it's connected to where? china. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): it's hard to follow what mike actually believes, but ultimately, he's convinced, wrongly, that the 2020 election was stolen through hacked voting machines, and now he wants to get rid of them. Michael lindell: tomorrow's the big day. If they pull that in, it'll be 90 they will vote. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): we met mike a day before the supreme court was due to consider a case he had funded against election officials in arizona in an effort to get rid of voting machines there. Michael lindell: are we going live on frankspeech? subject: yeah. Michael lindell: yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to let you guys film us being live on frankspeech. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): after mike and other trump supporters were kicked off social media platforms following january 6th for spreading election conspiracy theories. Michael lindell: we have a social media platform. It's like a youtube/twitter combination. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): mike set up his own social media and video streaming platform, frankspeech. Michael lindell: this thing over here at frankspeech and lindell tv, has done two things. One, is gave us a platform to reach out to all of you with my pillow products, and then also to keep our voice going. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): it's got its own slate of tv shows. Wayne allyn: our guest is ben berkman, who's been on here many times. We love ben. Ben berkman: hey, wayne. It's great to be back with you. [dramatic music] rudy giuliani: good evening. This is rudy giuliani with the rudy giuliani show. Michael lindell: i want to tell you, when we all started winning, and that was on january 7 and january 8, of 2021. Our real president lost his twitter. Remember that? so everybody that had even spoke out about the election or questioned it, they were deplatformed but since that day, our voices kept getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger. I set up the cause of america, my own network, frankspeech. I said, i got to reach the public. God wins in the end. Thank you. God bless you. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): but mike wasn't the only one here with an election conspiracy theory. Man: the election was stolen in six battleground states. Those six states were decided by the votes of illegal aliens who came in through our open border. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): these false beliefs about the last election are being used as a pretext to cause chaos and confusion about the next election, and they've spread far beyond this room in vegas. Kim yeater: freedom! freedom! protester: this is not a fight between democrats versus republicans. Kim yeater: come on. Come on. Protester: this is a fight against good and evil. Donie o'sullivan: do you think it will be a fair election? protester: i think they're going to try and cheat. Protester: our voting system was always a facade. Donie o'sullivan: are you concerned if trump loses? protester: yeah. Donie o'sullivan: that there will be another january 6? protester: no, i think there will be a civil war. [dramatic music] donie o'sullivan (voiceover): we'd come to the southern border in california to meet a religious group called take our border back. Kim yeater: come on. Come on. So all you live streamers, this is it. This is what it's going to take action. A body in motion tends to stay in motion. We've got to take action. Close the border! donie o'sullivan (voiceover): one of its leaders is kim yeater. Kim yeater: we're at war, and it is a spiritual war against principalities of darkness. [ululating] come on, we're appealing to heaven. Mexico, that's right! protester: we're rolling down to the border to get the message through. Kim yeater: freedom! [cheering] amen. Amen. Protesters: amen. Kim yeater: amen, father god. Protester: hallelujah! kim yeater: hallelujah! father god, we come before you, god, in the name of jesus. Father, we come before you. We love you. We praise you. We speak out to mexico right now. We speak out to the ends of the earth right now. We pray for victory over satan. Victory over the enemy. Let's break bread in jesus's name. [curious music] donie o'sullivan: kim. How are you? kim yeater: come on. So good to meet you. Donie o'sullivan: how are you doing? i'm donie. Kim yeater: tony donie o'sullivan: donie, yeah. Kim yeater: great, to meet you. Donie o'sullivan: nice to meet you. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): kim is a life coach. Kim yeater: donie, are you a human doing or a human being? donie o'sullivan (voiceover): and now an online influencer. Kim yeater: do you see my bling? so, mike, i've been censored and canceled. Michael lindell: wow. [interposing voices] michael lindell: well, i'm going to go like this. No way. Donie o'sullivan: you really got politically involved in 2020. Kim yeater: that's a great question, donie. So i got to tell you, i am not into politics at all, nor do i have an interest in politics. I'm into truth. So i can't say i got politically involved. I got truthinvolved. This is the take our border back north america alliance. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): the group's name may be take our border back. Kim yeater: border, border, border, we're here because of the border. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): but the topics here. Protester: what we're dealing with today is an evil oligarchy. Protester: it's we the people versus the deep state. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): range from fighting communism. Protester: he told my mom, honey, they're coming for me. My mom said, what? who? the communists. Communism is here. They're not practicing it, they're enforcing it here. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): to fifth generation warfare. Protester: fifth generation warfare is basically anything that's nonkinetic, vtok, voice to skull technology. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): and of course, elections. Kim yeater: does the ballot box matter? does your voice being heard matter? protester: we all know what happened. Joe biden didn't win. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): many of the people at this event believe american elections are in some way corrupt, like noél. No l: regardless of the problems of the election, the process, the machines, our government keeping us in our boxes and not being able to congregate together. [mellow music] [laughter] donie o'sullivan: what would you describe yourself as? are you an activist? [interposing voices] donie o'sullivan: influencer? are you an influencer? no l: they say influencer. I don't know like how true that rings. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): online she's known as patriot mom 007. No l: are some things in place for the illegals voting and being able to register in really sneaky ways. Donie o'sullivan: this idea that undocumented immigrants who are coming into the country today will vote in november's election. No l: probably. No doubt. Donie o'sullivan: when it comes in the presidential federal election. Do you think that's actually going to happen? no l: i mean, i think the probability is better than not. I mean, if we're being realistic and honest about it donie o'sullivan: in a meaningful way? no l: do you not think it's possible that that's going to happen, just knowing what you do, and all the donie o'sullivan: they would need citizenship, though, right? to vote? no l: well, ideally. Well, ideally, yes. I mean, if you're following the laws, but if you're already a group of people who don't follow the laws. Kim yeater: that's not even a question anymore. There's election fraud, period, period. There's so much evidence. You see, in 2020, my vote was stolen. So that was the kind of great awakening for me to realize that my vote had been taken. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): kim says her interest in elections began when she claims she went to vote in 2020 and was told someone already had voted using her identity. Kim yeater: we didn't vote. We hadn't voted at all. We hadn't mailed anything and nothing, and so that was the beginning of, something's not right. How are they thinking that i voted? who voted for me? when we started taking our elections back donie o'sullivan (voiceover): but kim was given a provisional ballot and was able to cast a vote. Donie o'sullivan: you, having the issue, you had to vote in 2020, you don't necessarily know that has anything to do with undocumented immigrants, right? kim yeater: so i personally do not know that. Now, if we're going to talk about the illegal immigrants coming in and having the ability to vote, that's a question that we all need to ask. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): undocumented immigrants are not allowed to vote in federal elections in the united states, and multiple studies have shown it is extremely rare. Man: i'm concerned about the number of illegals that are in our country that are able to vote. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): but it's a lie that's being pushed over, and over, and over again by maga influencers. Man: i can't imagine how many illegals are registered to vote in a state like california. Man: the us code as of right now would allow illegal aliens to vote in the upcoming presidential election. Donald trump jr. : no, we don't have to worry about the reliable voting blocs. We'll just bring in 20 more million people and we'll give them social security numbers. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): some in the maga world, like steve bannon, have huge followings. Kim yeater: war on the border. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): others, like kim and noél have a much smaller audience, but together they form part of a huge and sustained chorus of election denialism. Ben bergquam: middle of nowhere, hot as hell. Man: vivek, how are you, my friend? [slurping] man: mmhmm. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): many of them have been shut down on major social media platforms for sharing conspiracy theories. Man: 95% of it is just the rockefeller foundation. Man: even if he's in jail, he'll get elected president. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): they're part of a new world of social media sites that promote themselves as free speech platforms. Man: nick di paolo, bryan callen, the hodgetwins, mr. Guns and gear, and of course, alex jones. Man: sleep like a baby. Man: be sure to go to mypillow. Com. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): and a lot of them. Woman: mypillow is the only pillow you can buy that fights tyranny and communism. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): sell pillows. Woman: go to mypillow. Com and use promo code trump. Man: thank god for mypillow. Com. Promo code, frontline. Kim yeater: tap into the mypillow complete mattress sleep system. I absolutely love mine. Donie o'sullivan: you have a mypillow promo code. Kim yeater: well. [laughter] donie o'sullivan: it's kim, right? kim yeater: it is kim. Mypillow. Com/kim. [ululating] donie o'sullivan (voiceover): but what might have started with a problem at a polling location. Kim yeater: the agenda is to depopulate. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): seems to have dragged kim down a rabbit hole. Kim yeater: anything with the rothschilds is absolutely sinister. Period. Now we know that soros is just another puppet, isn't he. This was set up and this was deliberate. We somehow are losing our sovereignty and our voice is being stolen. What's really happening is there's a global agenda, so there's a global agenda being pushed. We've got to follow the money donie o'sullivan: who's pushing the global agenda? kim yeater: you know, if i drop names right now, the first and easiest thing for people to say is, ah, conspiracy. She mentioned george soros, oh, conspiracy. Donie o'sullivan: antisemitic. Kim yeater: antisemitic. Yeah, ridiculous. I love jews, by the way. Did i tell you that? i love middle eastern people. I love portuguese people. I love people of every nationality, every color, every race. I just love people, because we're all god's children, period. (singing) our god is an awesome god donie o'sullivan (voiceover): through my reporting, i've met a lot of people like kim. It's always tough to just how much of what they are saying they really believe. Donie o'sullivan: i know a lot of people on the left, cynically, we will look at and say, she has seen a niche here to become successful in this new information ecosystem, because it could potentially be lucrative. Kim yeater: can i tell you a secret? this has not been lucrative in any way. This has cost me my time. It's cost me time with family. It's cost me time even in working my own business. This has been lucrative in no way. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): but one thing was clear. [kaching] michael lindell: for all of you out there that buy my products. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): mike lindell and his pillows. Donie o'sullivan: the mypillow hq. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): were helping keep this world of election denialism alive. Michael lindell: now, don't trust me on a golf cart. I once drove one right into a pond once. [upbeat music] san francisco's been through tough times. London breed led us through the pandemic, declaring an emergency before anyone else, saving thousands of lives. From growing up in the western addition housing projects to becoming mayor, london has never given up on the city that raised her. London is getting people off the streets and into care. London never gave up on me. I found a home, and my life is on the right track. London made it super easy for me to open my small business, by cutting city fees. And she's reinventing downtown to make our city vibrant again. She's building 82,000 new homes and helping first time homebuyers, just like us. And london's hiring hundreds of police officers, and arresting drug dealers. San francisco has been through difficult times, but our hard work is paying off. Working together, we're building a better future for the city we all love. Ad paid for by reelect mayor london breed 2024. Financial disclosures are available at sfethics. Org. Waitress: what can i finget started for you?re donie o'sullivan: could i get a small iced americano? waitress: all right. Go ahead and move forward. I'll have the total for you at the window. Donie o'sullivan: thank you. We're going to see the mypillow guy. Waitress: the mypillow guy? donie o'sullivan: yeah. Waitress: that sounds like a lot of fun. Donie o'sullivan: i know. Does he come by for coffee? waitress: probably all the time. Donie o'sullivan: we'll just head on in. Hell. How are you? we're here to see mike. [curious music] oh, wow. Don't know what mike is thinking about how bad this interview could go, but i just spotted a gun on his desk, so. Ohoh. How are you? michael lindell: good, good, good. How are you doing, guys? donie o'sullivan: good to see you. Michael lindell: good to see you. Donie o'sullivan: just admiring your michael lindell: i don't usually work on that desk. I usually work right here, and everybody comes in. Donie o'sullivan: no problem. Michael lindell: that's fine. I got a couple things i got to do and then we'll be heading down there, but donie o'sullivan: when we visited mike, the first item on his agenda was a call with a company that would help him navigate big tech's rules against misinformation, allowing him to promote his platform, frankspeech. Michael lindell: the number one thing is frankspeech platform, because it all centers around that. If i have a voice, i can pretty much guide anything anywhere, but if i don't have my voice, which is why i made frankspeech in the first place. Employee: our goal is to get you on these platforms, getting views without getting taken down, and it's a constant, constant battle. Michael lindell: and you're making awareness for the platform frankspeech, correct? employee: that's correct. Michael lindell: that's it. You're hired. Ok. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): mike lindell, is an american success story. Michael lindell: fitting you with a mypillow is very important, so that you get the right amount of fill for you as an individual. (singing) now i see donie o'sullivan (voiceover): he went from crack addict. Michael lindell: now, that hologram, that picture there, is where the drug dealers did an intervention on me in 2008. Donie o'sullivan: your drug dealers did an intervention? michael lindell: they did an intervention. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): to ceo. Michael lindell: hello. Hello. Hello. Employees: hello! hello! michael lindell: hello. Hello. So when they stack these up, and she's looking for any flaws. This is the first part of making sure everything's perfect. There's dick. He's in the book. Dick: mike. Michael lindell: dick, cnn's here. They want to interview you. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): he's given jobs to people who've suffered from addiction like he did. Michael lindell: yeah, he was my kind of hope man. She had been clean and sober for three years when he came to me the month before i quit everything. Now, here's my original invention. You see this thing with the round holes? donie o'sullivan: yeah. Michael lindell: i had to change that out three times to get the different sizes i needed when i invented mypillow. These were how i did my shows back in the day. So i would sit there donie o'sullivan: ah! michael lindell: if you came to me. Donie o'sullivan: but i sleep like this normally. Michael lindell: right. Donie o'sullivan: and this arm gets sore. Michael lindell: right, your arm gets sore. You don't need that with a mypillow, because what's happening is your pillow is going flat and your body wants to keep your neck straight. Donald trump: it's good to see you here. Michael lindell: sir. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): it's hard to imagine now. Michael lindell: well, it seems like a lifetime ago that we met in august of 2016, right? donie o'sullivan (voiceover): but until a few years ago, mike had no interest in politics. Michael lindell: he invited me to trump tower, and i walked out of his office about 40 minutes later, i said, i don't know what a president i had never voted before in my life. Donie o'sullivan: really. Michael lindell: i had never. I didn't know i was a crack head. I didn't know a republican from a democrat. I didn't know what a filibuster from a milibuster. Donie o'sullivan: you never voted for 2016? michael lindell: no. My whole life. I didn't think politics affected me at all, and one of the things that you've shown us all, is that it affects almost everything in our lives. Donald trump: yeah. Michael lindell: the politics do. Normally, if you've seen this donie o'sullivan (voiceover): but his belief in election conspiracy theories and his insistence on pursuing them, has almost cost him his business. Donie o'sullivan: and the box stores and stuff kicked you out after january 2021? michael lindell: january 9, when i got all the evidence. Donie o'sullivan: but do you realize what you're doing when it comes to elections? it risks all of this. Michael lindell: right. Like the world has risked all that, but i can't risk our country. I won't back down. Donie o'sullivan: there's no moment where you say, you know what? i should just go back. Focus on pillows. Michael lindell: never, never, never. I will never look back. I can't unsee what i've seen and i can't unknow what i know. If you guys knew what i know, you'd be saying, wow, now i get it. Donie o'sullivan: i want to try to find out. I want to try to understand. [curious music] michael lindell: so this machine, i took if for only one thing. Everything we send out has a bible verse in it. [interposing voices] donie o'sullivan: wait, so this is custommade to put a bible michael lindell: custommade to put a bible verse in every single package that goes out of here. Donie o'sullivan: what? [interposing voices] donie o'sullivan: those who become christians become new persons. Michael lindell: that's 2 corinthians 5:17. Donie o'sullivan: that's as trump would say, two corinthians. Michael lindell: yeah. Yeah. [mumbles] back there? donie o'sullivan: yeah. [curious music] donie o'sullivan (voiceover): i'd stepped into mike lindell's factory, into his world. Donie o'sullivan: robots? michael lindell: these are little what they do. [interposing voices] donie o'sullivan: robots. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): but the more i spoke to him. Donie o'sullivan: do you have evidence of a stolen michael lindell: in 2020? yeah, absolutely. The evidence we have is the casbolt records. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): the more it was clear when it came to elections, that his was a world of pure imagination. Michael lindell: you see that guy. Donie o'sullivan: i think it's two different things, right? you can say, there's issues with voting machines, et cetera, but you don't have to go as far as saying that the 2020 election was stolen. Michael lindell: for me, i haven't said that. You guys have been the ones saying that. I've said that in the beginning. Yes, it was stolen. I know it was stolen. I've evidence it was stolen. We got to secure our election platform and learn from that. I don't care if it was completely turned over or not. We got a big problem here where computers are in our election. Donie o'sullivan: did you have a good night? donie o'sullivan (voiceover): when we last saw mike in vegas michael lindell: that's what you're going to learn. That's what the supreme court will see themselves. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): he was confident that a case he had helped bring to the supreme court challenging the use of election machines in arizona would be accepted by all nine supreme court justices. Michael lindell: and i'm telling you, it's going to be a 90 vote going, wow. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): in the end, the court refused to even hear the case, but mike wasn't fazed, or at least he didn't act like he was. Michael lindell: our victories, everybody. These are our little victories, which are big victories. People see, oh, mike, your just supreme court case got turned down. How do you feel? i feel great. Donie o'sullivan: all right. So what are you doing now? you're going on with bannon? michael lindell: yeah. Hey, denver employee: hi, sir. How are you today? michael lindell: not too bad. Not too bad. We'll do the give away, the flag and the mypillow 2. 0. Donie o'sullivan: you're doing a promo on bannon too? michael lindell: this one, yeah. We buy advertising all over, podcasts everywhere. Donie o'sullivan: how many shows like bannon's are you on? michael lindell: like podcasts? you know well, almost all of them. I don't know, that's 100 to 200. But we had this long before this election stuff. Donie o'sullivan: any kind of protrump maga media i see, i always see a mypillow ad on there. Michael lindell: this country will be saved! narrator: war room, here's your host, stephen k. Bannon. Stephen k. Bannon: catherine o'neill, formerly in trump administration one. You're selling the best beef in the world, where do people go? catherine o'neill: if you go to merriweather michael lindell: see, like she's doing beef right now. Stephen k. Bannon: mike lindell, people's heads have been blown up about this deal. Talk to me. Give me a deal before i go to the 6:00 hour. Michael lindell: all right. And now, steve, we had a great day with cnn. Remember, they toured the factory, everybody, and so we did. You guys get a free goanywhere mypillow, and the mypillow 2. 0, free with any purchase. As we know, we all need the best sleep of our lives during these attacks. Steve, it's been quite a day with these cnn guys. I got 20 cameras on me right now. Stephen k. Bannon: is this donie? is this our friend from cnn, donie the irishman? michael lindell: he's right here. Stephen k. Bannon: donie is an assassin. He comes across that little leprechaun thing, he's an assassin. Watch out for him. He's a killer. Watch that guy. Michael lindell: yep. Ok. [interposing voices] stephen k. Bannon: ok. Stick around. Boom! stick around. [dramatic music] protester: i want to thank god for his great mercy on our nation, and thank god for protecting president donald trump yesterday. Crowd: amen! [applause] donie o'sullivan: where were you when you heard the news last night? protester: i was at home sitting on my couch, and i was devastated by what i saw. I couldn't believe my eyes. I mean, this is america. Protester: they almost just killed our president. They almost just murdered him. Donie o'sullivan: we are at the republican national convention in milwaukee. Trump was almost just assassinated. It's the first attempted assassination of a us president in the age of social media. Politician: i'll put it this way, i wouldn't be surprised if it was some sort of inside job. [popping] secret service: get down! get down! donie o'sullivan (voiceover): the bullets had barely been fired before there was conspiracy theories, everywhere, all over the internet, on the right and on the left, about what had happened or what hadn't really happened. Crowd: usa! usa! usa! donie o'sullivan: we were just at a vigil where trump supporters were praying for the former president. Now we're on our way to an antitrump protest that's happening just outside the convention here. Protester: the people united will never be defeated! i'm here to protest trump in a swing state where it matters even more. Donie o'sullivan: is there a number one issue for you, or? protester: yeah, definitely. Women's rights, abortion laws. Donie o'sullivan: how did you feel when you saw he almost got assassinated? protester: i didn't feel too passionately in either direction. I think that bad things happen to bad people. Donie o'sullivan: how did you feel when you saw the assassination attempt? protester: do you really want to know? donie o'sullivan: yes. Protester: the first thing that ran through my head is because we cannot believe this man ever, that it was somehow fake. Now that a man died, it's horrid. And i think it is a terrible comment on the country's state right now that anyone would think anywhere that it's appropriate to shoot at any political candidate. But i couldn't help but wonder because we've been lied to over and over by this man. Donie o'sullivan: i assume, just as you've watched what trump supporters say about the election, or how january 6 was, black lives matter, or an inside job, now you kind of sound like them. You're saying, well, maybe it was a staged assassination attempt. Protester: right. And i hate that that's what i'm doing. I hate that that's where i have gone, and i wonder why i've gone there. And is it because i am constantly hearing them say these kind of things? i don't like that this is where we've gotten in this country, because there has been this pervasive and it has come mainly from trump and his supporters this pervasive misinformation that has become a part of our country. [dramatic music] donie o'sullivan: people like mary don't really know what to believe, in part because of how fractured our media environment has become. And that brings us here to media row. Reporter: i've been against political violence and i hate what happened to trump. Donie o'sullivan: real america's voice, daily signal, a outlets that most americans have never heard of, but it's where hundreds of thousands, millions of people, are getting more and more of their news, their information, and misinformation. Ben bergquam: we exist because you guys are doing such a poor job. Our network and i would say others, are kind of filling the vacuum that the mainstream media, fake news media, were leaving. Woman: don! donie o'sullivan: see, don jr. , from the trump campaign, realizes just how important this new media universe is, right. He is going from booth to booth here doing interviews because this is where the audience is. Would you agree? michael lindell: hey, i'm going to tell you something because you're right. You know what? let me tell you something. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): i had barely stepped foot in media row before running into mike lindell. Michael lindell: the manifestations. People that got their voices taken away, they started podcasts, they started all these news hour things blows up. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): mike was on his way to do another pillow promotion on the steve bannon show, but since we last met, mike, bannon had gone to jail, and his daughter had taken over hosting. Maureen bannon: mike, i know my dad has said in order to support him, support our sponsors. Michael lindell: i promised your dad when he went in. This is our political prisoner special, exclusive to the war room. This is the most affordable mattress topper in history. [dramatic music] donie o'sullivan (voiceover): trump's assassination attempt injected this year's rnc with a new sense of urgency, but not without a sense of humor. [dramatic music] russell brand: i've never been to anything like this. This is somewhere between a carnival and a trade fair, and i'm so confused. Man: what is trump poetry? salesman: this is the greatest poetry book of all time, written by the greatest poet of our generation. It is his tweets from 2009 to 2019 as concrete poetry in the style of e. E cummings. Man: i am a defender of miley cyrus, who i think is a good person, not because she stares at, let's say, my hotel, but last night's outfit must go. [upbeat music] donie o'sullivan: are you working here. Oh, you're buying. Woman: i'm buying. Donie o'sullivan: what are you buying? woman: i'm buying lee greenwood's bible. I want trump to sign it, and lee greenwood. $75. [upbeat music] donie o'sullivan: $3. Woman: $25. What do you think? should i get it? donie o'sullivan: i think you should. Woman: yeah. Donie o'sullivan: what's patriot mobile? salesman: what are we? donie o'sullivan: yeah. Salesman: we're america's only christian conservative wireless provider. Donie o'sullivan: patriots only? patriot mobile, because you do not want to be one of those liberal phone networks. All right. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): but amid the carnival atmosphere, talk of a dark future. Morgann mcmichael: i think if it comes to november, and all of a sudden, we see the fraud happening and trump doesn't pull off a win, i think it's going to start a riot. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): and the familiar conspiracy theory that undocumented immigrants were going to steal the election in november, also widespread here. [dramatic music] donie o'sullivan: do you think noncitizens voting is an issue? protester: yeah, yeah. Protester: there's no question. It's a huge issue. Protester: now, only united states citizens should be voting in america. Donie o'sullivan: but they're not going to get a ballot, though, will they? they won't be on a voter roll. Protester: they'll be able to go up to any clerk and claim that they're a last minute registrant, and vote. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): the conspiracy theories spewed here in media row are the same being preached from the podium at the main stage of the rnc. Donald trump: biden and harris want illegals to vote now that they've opened up the border. [dramatic music] woman: i think what we're seeing now is that the border has become even more politicized than ever. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): so many of these narratives emerge at the southern border, so we went there to find the facts. [dramatic music] woman: i heard a quote recently that the real crisis at the border is that many americans have lost their hearts, that they are dehumanizing people out here. [dramatic music] we have these flags, they're feet high so that they can be seen for several miles. The blue is the universal symbol of water. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): humane borders is a charity that gives water to migrants crossing the usmexican border. Donie o'sullivan: you've been doing this more than 20 years? woman: humane mean borders was founded in the year 2000. If you look statistically at who's coming in through the border, immigrants are much less likely to commit crimes than usborn citizens. Ben bergquam: i can't even turn the camera. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): the maga media universe once portrayed the border in one way. Ben bergquam: this! you're like, ok, what's the blue flag, guys? what's the blue flag? we've got water stations now. This is set up here for illegals. Man: these are militaryaged men. Like they're in their 20s, man, and they're not coming here with families. Are you going to vote for joe biden? man: joe biden. Ben bergquam: yeah. Ok. They're all going to vote for joe biden. You did it, joe. Woman: these are political opportunists who are coming to the border for a photo op to try to convince people that this is a scary place. [dramatic music] donie o'sullivan (voiceover): as we traveled along the border [chatter] we suddenly came upon a group that had just crossed into the us, mostly children and women, some pregnant, waiting in 100 degree heat. Woman: it's ok? it's ok? [nonenglish speech] dora rodriguez: hey, we had to move to the side because they're going to get really pissed off at us. [dramatic music] donie o'sullivan (voiceover): border patrol eventually arrived. [nonenglish speech] [side conversation] this group would be taken in to be processed, and within 24 hours, some of them could be sent back to mexico. Further down the wall, migrants sat in a makeshift camp waiting to be picked up by border patrol. Dora rodriguez: hi, honey. Woman: hi. Dora rodriguez: how are you? so do you know what's going to happen when they come to pick you up? one word. I need asylum. [nonenglish speech] ok? donie o'sullivan (voiceover): some here were the socalled militaryaged men trumpworld keeps talking about. Dora rodriguez: when the agent come, you say, we want asylum. You have a right to be here and ask for asylum. [side conversation] donie o'sullivan (voiceover): dora rodriguez fled el salvador and crossed the border into the united states in 1980. Dora rodriguez: i was just 19 years old, a kid that did not know the world. And then after five days wandering this desert in 115 degrees, 13 of my friends died, including three kids, 12, 14 and 16. Three sisters. Border patrol: all right. Ok. You guys are all going donie o'sullivan: this sort of new talking point, these people are coming into the country so they can be used to vote democrat, so they can steal this next election. Dora rodriguez: right. Do you believe that? if you're in your right mind, you will not believe that, because that's not true. People that is coming to this country and they have come for centuries, this is not new. People has come to this country because they trust this country. So it's a lot of misinformation, but it's for one purpose, to create fear because fear sells. [side conversation] we see our people here presenting with their children. You're not telling me that a fiveyearold is coming to take your vote or to invade your cities. [side conversation] donie o'sullivan: just like social media and the internet, you can come here and find the story you want to find and the narrative you want to push, right? if i were a guy who's streaming on facebook and antiimmigrant, i show off here, this is what i see. This is a camp, no sign of kids. Just all these young people, militaryaged men. [side conversation] see how the narrative kind of can get shaped very easily with that? i think people on the left are also wrong to say that it is only kids and women. [dramatic music] donie o'sullivan (voiceover): after we left the border, we headed north to phoenix and maricopa county. In 2020, maricopa became a hotbed of election conspiracy theories after trump lost here, and it could happen all over again in 2024. Donie o'sullivan: you are one of the top election officials here in maricopa county, and your name is bill gates? bill gates: it is. It is. It's true. [dramatic music] stephen richer: nobody ever just says, you should trust electronics because you should just trust them. So this is an important step before the election to make sure that the tabulators are working as intended. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): we were in maricopa as the county tested its machines that count votes. Representatives from both political parties were here to witness it for themselves. Stephen richer: and then there are tests after the election as well to make sure that the tabulators stayed consistent and were reading ballots as they should. [dramatic music] donie o'sullivan (voiceover): tests like these happen all over the country, but they seem to do little to quell conspiracy theories about voting machines. Michael lindell: i don't trust any election that was ever used with the computers, ever. I want to get to paper ballots, handcounted. [chatter] bill gates: everyone votes on paper here. So this is part of these conspiracy theories that people are voting like touch touchscreen, like they're ordering a burger at mcdonald's. It's on paper, and the paper ballots go through the machines. That's how they're tabulated. But also keep in mind that we do several audits, and one of them is a hand count, a percentage of those votes to make sure that the hand count is consistent with those machine counts. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): bill and stephen are both republicans. They've been battling election conspiracy theories for years, even when they're tweeted by elon musk. Stephen richer: i don't know. I guess it just caught me at the moment where i said, i want to say something about this. And so the allegation was that you don't have to be a citizen to be able to vote in arizona. You must be a citizen. It is unlawful, it is a felony if you vote and you are not a citizen. Your immigration process will become much, much, much, much, much more challenging. Bill gates: look, there are issues at the border, i don't dispute that, but as it relates to voting, it's not something that i'm concerned about. And this is unfortunately just another conspiracy theory that's now being thrown at the american people so that those who maybe don't like where the final results end up, will then point to that and say, well, that's why i didn't win. Michael lindell: that's my guys. I've been looking everywhere for you cnn guys. Donie o'sullivan: i've spent a lot of time with lindell recently. I will say, we've had a lot of laughs together. He is an entertaining man, but what mike lindell is doing is dangerous. Bill gates: i think anyone who is spreading misinformation about our election system, it's dangerous. Not only is it further rattling people's faith in the system, but in some instances, it leads to threats to our elections workers. [dramatic music] joe oltmann: what happens if they steal the election in november? morgann mcmichael: i honestly think there might be a civil war in our country. Tim ballard: true, frankspeech, the answer is people have to put this into their own hands. Donie o'sullivan (voiceover): mike has helped create a dangerous myth that a trump loss in november can only come about through cheating, and a world where serial election deniers like rudy giuliani have their own show. Donie o'sullivan: a sincere question, because i've been thinking about this a lot. You're addicted to this. Michael lindell: no, no. I'm not addicted to this. You know what i want? every place i go, we have one shot to get rid of these electronic voting machines and get to paper ballots. I'm passionate about it because if you knew what i knew, you wouldn't stop either donie o'sullivan: i know. I think you mean well. Michael lindell: yeah. Donie o'sullivan: but i think what you're doing is probably pretty dangerous. Michael lindell: ok, but i don't agree with that. Why is that dangerous that i want us to have secure elections? tell me that. How come they donie o'sullivan: you're supporting, right. You have helped build a universe through frankspeech and franksocial. Kim yeater: in 2020, my vote was stolen. This was donie o'sullivan (voiceover): a universe of influencers and media outlets spewing misinformation. Misinformation, that could cause confusion and chaos this november. [chatter] donie o'sullivan: and it's the media outlets like these that are becoming increasingly influential. Trump loses, they're going to be used to build up the narrative that the election was stolen. And if he wins, they're going to be used to push protrump propaganda. There's going to be a lot more of this. [dramatic music]