'Beyond bizarre': Dominion CEO testifies election fraud claims about Ohio county rejects Dominion voting machines in response to pressure NBC News reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, which declined to comment on the topic of modem security in voting machine tabulators and scanners. "To the misinformed people on @Twitter and @instagram #cityblueimaging does not print #ballots, does not do work for #Phoenixgraphics and was never owned by the owner of #phoenixgraphics," the company wrote on its Facebook page on Dec. 27. The bomb was located in a recreational vehicle that Warner owned. The explosion injured three people and damaged several businesses, including the AT&T Building. Much of the voting equipment was by Dominion. There is a bomb. One of the largest voting machine suppliers in the U.S. Dominion Voting Systems sued Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, who represented former President Donald Trump, after they . Dominion has been the target of a wide range of false posts since American voters chose Joe Biden as their next president, despite no evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities in the 2020 election. "AT&T got a contract to do forensic audit on Dominion voting machines and those machines were being moved to Nashville this past week," one Dec. 27 post says. In a letter obtained by NBC News sent to the EAC on Tuesday, the nonprofit public interest group Free Speech for People and the National Election Defense Coalition asked the agency to look into whether ES&S violated agency regulations by implying that DS200 voting machines with modems are EAC certified. Both Dominion Voting Systems andAT&T confirmed the communications company was not contracted to audit Dominion's machines. Social media users have been sharing content online that claims AT&T had a contract to do a forensic audit on Dominion Voting Systems machines and that the Dec. 25 explosion in Nashville, which damaged an AT&T building, was tied to this audit. Even in an election where almost all the voting was recorded on paper ballots and rigorous audits were done more than ever before, none of that helps if millions of people are working with an alternative set of facts, said Joe Kiniry, chief scientist of the open-source election technology company Free & Fair. The post, which has been shared almost 900 times, makes two claims: A building damaged in the Nashville explosion was holding Dominion Voting Systems machines set to be audited, and in New. Claims that two buildings that were destroyed on Christmas Day were both holding evidence related to the 2020 U.S. presidential election are untrue. The posts all tie AT&T with Dominion, holding the explosion to be alleged proof of conspiracy. James Murphy, a spokesperson for MetLife, confirmed the company owns the building. AT&T does not hold a contract to audit Dominions software or machines and did not have any of the companys equipment in its Nashville building. Federal officials have identified the man believed to be behind the bombing, and they are working to discern a motive. Modems in voting machines are a bad idea, said Appel. The claim: Dominion Voting Systems is tied up in the Nashville bombing, based on the affected AT&T building's ownership and that the cellular company was contracted to audit Dominion's. Conspiracy theorists say the suicide bombing that rocked downtown Nashville was actually the result of a missile strike. Dominion Voting Systems, Inc. provides voting machines and tabulators. While lawmakers questioned them about foreign influence in their supply chains and whether they would comply with more federal reporting requirements, the presence of modems in some of their tabulators was mentioned but not pursued. While the companys website states that zero of its voting tabulators are connected to the internet, ES&S told NBC News 14,000 of their DS200 tabulators with online modems are currently in use around the country. The explosion injured three other people and damaged businesses in downtown Nashville, including an AT&T switching center, which resulted in widespread communications outages. The social media post states "AT&T got contract [sic] to do forensic audit on Dominion voting machines and those machines were being moved to Nashville this past week" before the bombing. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Cerberus Capital did briefly own an AT&T building, but the post is wrong about which one. "God is at the wheel, but we are the warriors that must do the work of men to repel evil," said one of numerous posts on the conservative social media site Parler. Dominion: will one Canadian company bring down Trump's empire of Posts include debunked conspiracy claims attempting to tie the Nashville explosion Dominion voting systems. On January 8, it filed a defamation suit against pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell, seeking $1.3 billion in damages. The New York Attorney Generals office said they could not confirm nor deny any investigation. AT&T did not have a contract to audit Dominion machines and was not holding Dominion machines in its Nashville building, both companies confirmed to The Associated Press. Shortly afterwards, social media users began circulating variants of a conspiracy theory holding that AT&T had been engaged to undertake a "forensic audit of Dominion voting machines," the latter of which were frequent targets of false election fraud claims made by President Donald Trump and his supports after Trump lost his re-election bid in November 2020: The implication of the conspiracy theory was that the explosion had been intended to destroy the machines before they were audited in order to cover up evidence of massive voting fraud. Reuters found no evidence that Cerberus Capital Management (www.cerberus.com/) owns Dominion. More than a month ago, Eric Coomer went into hiding. Some of the posts (here) try connect the explosion to Bill Clinton and Barack Obama by claiming that William Kennard, Obamas EU ambassador and Clintons FCC chair, is on AT&Ts board and owns the Nashville AT&T building that was destroyed in the blast. Spokespeople for both AT&T and Dominion have confirmed that AT&T did not hold a contract to audit Dominion, nor had any of Dominions equipment been moved to Nashville in preparation for such an audit. the dominion voting system that was the subject of an enormous amount of controversy, is a dramatic improvement over prior forms of voting. Kevin Monahan is a producer for the NBC News Investigative Unit. More:Fact check: No, Joe Biden's brother-in-law does not own Dominion Voting Systems. MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has promised for months since the 2020 election that he had obtained Dominion, Smartmatic and ES&S voting machines, and they would be on full. The Poynter Institute Menu. More on Dominion:Fact check: Viral photo shows fake logo and slogan for Dominion Voting Systems. "The voting machine lobby, led by the biggest company, ES&S, believes they are above the law," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a member of the Intelligence Committee who co-signed the letter.. And so we set out to try and find the voting machines to see if we could find them on the internet, and especially the back-end systems that voting machines in the precinct were connecting to to report their results.. A Dominion spokeswoman said other company employees have also gone to more secure locations, been threatened and been digitally stalked. In counties that didn't use Dominion systems, Biden got 1.54 million votes to Trump's 1.52 million. Behind it is the notion that if voting systems are not online, hackers will have a harder time compromising them. Secretary Hargett is the chief executive officer of the Department of State with oversight of more than 300 employees. CLAIM: AT&T got a contract to do a forensic audit of Dominion Voting Systems machines and those machines were recently moved to Nashville, Tennessee to the same AT&T building that was damaged in a Christmas morning explosion. The explosion disrupted AT&T wireless and internet services, leading to widespread 911 issues in the Nashville area, The Tennessean reported. Dominion was founded in the wake of a different controversy: the failure of punch-card voting machines and their infamous hanging chads in the 2000 election. The complicated theory began circulating soon after an RV exploded in downtown Nashville. So that unofficial election results can more quickly be relayed to the public. EDITORS NOTE (Feb. 7, 2020, 11:15 p.m.): A previous version of this article stated that Kevin Skoglund and his team had found election systems using ES&S scanners with wireless modems connected to the internet in 11 states and the District of Columbia. Cynthia McFadden is the senior legal and investigative correspondent for NBC News. Spokespeople for both AT&T and Dominion have confirmed that AT&T did not hold a contract to audit Dominion, nor had any of Dominions equipment been moved to Nashville in preparation for such an audit. The post was flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. This is bogus. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. City Blue Imaging Services' Facebook, Dec. 27. "When we're in the realm of coupling disinformation from both foreign and domestic sources, and government and nongovernment sources, and none of it is really grounded in reality evidence doesn't help much," he said. "So, the explosion 'just happened . ", Both Snopes and AFP reached the same conclusion. The question is.. PolitiFact - No, AT&T was not conducting an audit of Dominion Voting This is bogus. The conservative network has seen its ratings surge in . These are conspiracies manufactured out of whole cloth.. And thats not what were about. As people experience their own individual Internet bubbles, it can be hard to recognize just how much misinformation exists and how the current information ecosystem compares with previous years. The 35 systems Skoglunds team found represent a fraction of total voting systems nationwide, though he believes they only captured a portion of the systems that are or have been online. "AT&T got a contract to do forensic audit on Dominion voting machines and those machines were being moved to Nashville this past week," one Dec. 27postsays. The posts on social mediaallege the bombing is tied to Dominion Voting Systems, an election technology supplier that's been central to many right-wing, QAnon-adjacent conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. Democrats ask Fox not to push 'propaganda' on 2020 election It is true Kennard serves on the board of Staple Street Capital (not Staple Street execs as the posts say). Jim Greer, Assistant Vice President of Corporate Communications at AT&T, told Reuters via email: None of the things in the post are true.. Theres a small percentage of jurisdictions in the country -- a lot of them are in Florida -- who have decided they want to modem unofficial results to the election office, he said. The post displays a headline from a fabricated story by the Genesius Times, a satirical news website, that reads: "BREAKING: Nashville Bomber died from COVID-19 shortly after blowing himself up. Jim Greer, a spokesperson for AT&T, told USA TODAY the claims are "not true. According to the post, that firm ownedthe AT&T building outside of which the Christmas bombing occurred. However, the firm cited in that version of the claim Cerberus Capital Management doesnt own Dominion nor is it connected to Staple Street Capital, whichacquired Dominion in 2018. Then Acting Undersecretary for Cybersecurity and Communications at the Department of Homeland Security Jeanette Manfra said those words in 2017, testifying before Congress while she was responsible for the security of the nations voting system. ", More:Three firefighters hurt battling three-alarm blaze in Rochester. But to draw that connection, a number of other groups are brought into the fold and it doesn't add up. Nashville's date on June 7 at GEODIS Park will feature Kelsea Ballerini and BRELAND -- and now, The Boykinz. Next theory: The bombing was an attempt to stop an AT&T audit into Dominion software and cover up election corruption. That agreement is long over, and they no longer have the . Breitbart, by Hannah Bleau Original Article. (Read more about, Breaking news meme generators are frequently used online to create fabricated headlines and chyrons such as this one. The Genesius Times describes itself as the "most reliable source of fake news on the planet" and that it strives "to provide the most up-to-date, accurate fake news on the Internet,", "Nashville explosion a missile strike??" The following three posts were flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. Mike Lindell promised Dominion voting machines - Salon Mike Lindell Says FBI Surrounded Him and Seized His Cellphone Fact check: Nashville bombing-Dominion Voting Systems link is a for the blast that rattled downtown Nashville on Christmas morning, social media users have invented their own far-fetched theories. why?" Reuters debunked this claim here . The reason? In addition to Coomer's lawsuit, Dominion is threatening legal action against Sidney Powell, who has been among the loudest voices pushing conspiracy theories on behalf of the Trump campaign. Trump has repeatedly made comments about Dominion's voting machines and retweeted reports perpetuating the conspiracy theory, calling the company's voting machines "a disaster all over the . Critics also argue ES&S has mislead jurisdictions into thinking their DS200 tabulators with modems are certified by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, a claim they say is grounds for an investigation. But none of this is true. Shasta will be the first of 40 California counties that used Dominion in the November 2022 election to drop the voting system, Shasta County Clerk/Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen told the . Coomer said the first barb aimed at him came five days after the election. The same Facebook post also said Dominion voting machines were being audited in the AT&T building that was destroyed by a bomb in Nashville. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. A post on Facebook theorized that the two disasters were connected by a plot to steal the election. The ATT building in Nashville that was affected by the bomb was owned by Cerebus (sic) Capital. At its core is the prediction thatan alleged mass arrest ofhigh-profile Democrats and celebritieswould be carried out while now-former President Donald Trump secretly savedthe world from a satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals. In 2020, the controversy revolves around Dominion's voting machines, sparked by an erroneous result out of a Michigan county that's been blamed on human error, allegations of rigged Dominion software in Georgia and the fact Texas rejected Dominion's system due to security concerns. Don't Buy the Debunked Dominion Voting Machine Conspiracy Theory Our fact check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook. But election integrity advocates worry the disinformation won't truly begin to recede until political leaders such as Trump stop questioning the election's legitimacy. An Expert on Voting Machines Explains How They Work - Scientific American Dominion Voting Systems which commands more than a third of the voting-machine market without having Washington lobbyists has hired its first, a high-powered firm that includes a. He believes there is time to make real change before the 2020 election. Audit in Michigan County Refutes Dominion Conspiracy Theory The printing business took to social media to debunk the claim itself. Serious political tensions and fears of COVID-19 have led record-breaking numbers of Americans to vote early this year, either by mail or in person. It's just the latest example of how people's lives are being upended and potentially ruined by the unprecedented flurry of disinformation this year. "So, the explosion just happened to be at the AT&T location where they just so happen to control the cooling system for the super computer and house the dominion voting machines and drives for forensic audit", "Wait, the bombing in Nashville was at the AT&T data center right after they got the contract to audit the Dominion voting machines?," one from Dec. 26 reads. The report claims the results of the election in . More:Fact check: Joe Biden legally won presidential election, despite persistent contrary claims. Voting machines didn't steal the election. But they're a terrible "That's all still speculation at this point as we continue in our investigation with all of our partners. Didi Martinez is an associate producer with the NBC News Investigative Unit. Williamson County to ditch Dominion voting machines after state review Progressive Democrats Introduce First Bill to Tighten Rail Safety Sumit Ganguli is the CEO and Member of the Board at GAVS Technologies. No available external evidence suggests AT&T was involved in any such audit, either. It wasn't meant to kill people, but to destroy a building. Thank you for supporting our journalism. The House Committee on Administration held a congressional hearing yesterday which was the first time the heads of the three major vendors, representing at least 80 percent of U.S. voting machines, appeared together for questioning. In . Yet internet sleuths are searching for their own answers, some looking atthin ties toconspiracy theories about the 2020 election as evidence of a broader plot. "So, the explosion just happened to be at the AT&T location where they just so happen to control the cooling system for the super computer and house the dominion voting machines and drives for forensic audit", "Wait, the bombing in Nashville was at the AT&T data center right after they got the contract to audit the Dominion voting machines?,"onefrom Dec. 26 reads. Others are not so sure, and the state has set up an advisory committee. "The specific steps taken would depend on the recommendation and the timeline required to make changes effectively.. One of the co-founders of Staple Street Capital (staplestreetcapital.com/ ), not Staple Street execs, Hootan Yaghoobzadeh, worked at Cerberus prior to starting Staple Street in 2009 (here). "The FBI corralled me in Mankato, Minnesota, and took my cell phone," Lindell told the Reformer. Audit of Dominion voting machines in Wisconsin shows minor issues - TMJ4 Posts online claim that the Christmas Day bombing in Nashville was an attempt to cover up election fraud because AT&T was conducting an audit of Dominion Voting Systems machines and that. Some of Trump's supporters have focused on Coomer as the supposed evil mastermind. FACT CHECK: Does Joe Biden's Brother-In-Law Own Dominion Voting Systems? These two tech experts also agree on the path forward, saying they are comforted by the fact that most Americans will vote this year on hand-marked paper ballots which are counted by machine and can be recounted by hand if the situation warrants. The Trump followers believe that the explosion was actually a missile strike aimed at destroying. While the investigation is ongoing, the Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded that a man named Anthony Warner was responsible for the bombing and was killed in the blast ( here , here ). Dominion is a company that supplies voting machines in more than two-dozen states, including Ohio. Americans should continue to seek information from verifiable, trusted sources, such as law enforcement authorities, Dominion Voting Systems added. On Tuesday, Coomer sued the Trump campaign and a number of allies, alleging defamation. New Dominion filing made public as defamation lawsuit heads to trial Dominion Voting Systems Official Is In Hiding After Threats : NPR - NPR.org Does Joe Biden's family own Dominion Voting Systems? Nope