I doubt he is sophisticated enough to have manufactured the data himself, but someone must have manufactured the data. One theory is that the "packet capture"

I doubt he is sophisticated enough to have manufactured the data himself, but someone must have manufactured the data. One theory is that the "packet capture" was a disinformation campaign promoted by foreign actors (e.g. Russia) to capitalize on the stolen election narrative that was forming and foment chaos. Imagine a spy approaches Lindell posing as a credible but disgruntled "insider" within the US government, maybe even presenting forged credentials like a badge, government ID, etc. then "leaks" this manufactured data to him. Then Lindell believes he's on a crusade to save the country, and acts like their wind-up toy in the media. It's more plausible to me that Lindell sincerely believes his narrative and was taken advantage of rather than he's an intentionally malicious character. Or perhaps that's how it started, and he's too embarrassed or hard-headed to admit being fooled. Seems like if that was the case, the NSA or CIA should step in and brief him, then give him a graceful exit in exchange for publicly admitting he was wrong. If Lindell is also compromised by blackmail or extortion, then things get more complicated.