The My Pillow CEO, Mike Lindell, speaking to Right Side Broadcasting on Saturday, expressed his personal hope that any US military presence in Washington DC ahead of the 20 January inauguration of Joe Biden is a "response" by the outgoing US president, Donald Trump, to continuing allegations of "election fraud".
"I don’t understand it. There’s like three people and every other person is a military guy", Lindell said, commenting on security upgrades in Washington DC in the wake of the 6 January attack and ahead of the upcoming 20 January inauguration. "If it is all theatrics...I don't know. We've all had our prayers going "Gee maybe somethings gonna be done that this president is willing to say hey we’ve been attacked by another country 'cause we have. Our country’s been under attack for a long time."
The interviewer suggested to Lindell that "people are hoping that this military presence is a response to what you just said", and Lindell immediately responded with "That’s where my hope lies" - something that was seen by many as calling for a military coup.
Earlier, Lindell was caught on camera outside the White House clutching a handful paper notes that appeared to contain lines such as "...martial law", "...foreign interference in the election...", "Insurrection Act now as a result of the assault on the..." and other phrases.
Lindell later claimed that he met with Trump to present what he described as "evidence of election fraud".
As he continues to claim "rigged election", Trump announced and promoted a "big" rally in Washington DC on 6 January - the day the Electoral College vote was to be certified - and spoke to his supporters from the White House lawn on the day, pledging to "never concede".
After the rally, his supporters stormed the US Capitol, plunging the vote certification into chaos and killing five while causing widespread damage and vandalism. Trump, some 90 minutes after the riot began, tweeted for his supporters to "go home", prior to seeing his Twitter account permanently banned for "encouraging violence".
Later, the US House of Representatives impeached the outgoing president for an unprecedented second time, citing "incitement of insurrection". Trump denied the accusations, calling the impeachment "a hoax" and "a continuation of the witch hunt".