he instructions and videos shown here have been prepared by the manufacturers and are general in nature. Both companies have denied the posts claims, saying that there was no such audit and that Dominions machines were not recently transported to Nashville. There can still be security holes that allow hackers to get into the phone network.. 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? read another post. Skoglund said that they identified only one company among the systems they detected on line, ES&S. The complicated theory began circulating soon after an RV exploded in downtown Nashville. New Dominion filing made public as defamation lawsuit heads to trial With the 2020 presidential election only ten months away, Appel and Skoglund believe all modems can and should be removed from election systems. That agreement is long over, and they no longer have the . On Tuesday, Coomer sued the Trump campaign and a number of allies, alleging defamation. US Elections were November 3, 2020. AT&T and Verizon and so on try and protect as best they can the security of their phone network from the rest of the internet, but its still part of the internet, Appel explained. There is no evidence that suggests that the explosion was election-related. All rights reserved. Didi Martinez is an associate producer with the NBC News Investigative Unit. "Some of the threats that I've gotten have made very clear that these actors are in it for the long haul. 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. Some just say AT&T had a contract to conduct a forensic audit on Dominion Voting Systems. Smartmatic, a competitor of Dominion's that has also been the subject of wild rumors, has demanded that numerous news networks take back their allegations against it. The report claims the results of the election in . 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. . Some of Trump's supporters have focused on Coomer as the supposed evil mastermind. The explosion disrupted AT&T wireless and internet services, leading to widespread 911 issues in the Nashville area, The Tennessean reported. 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. We can not make our computers perfectly secure," he said. Others add that the explosion took place as the voting machines were being moved to Nashville and provide political links as proof of a conspiracy. "The loud speaker was to warn people that the bomb was going to go off.. 5:30a on Christmas morning was picked to ensure that nobody was around.. Both Dominion Voting Systems andAT&T confirmed the communications company was not contracted to audit Dominion's machines. No amount of transparency at the county and state level can really combat the sort of megaphone that Trump wields, Kiniry says. Coomer oversees product strategy and security for Dominion Voting Systems, the Denver-based company that has suddenly found itself at the center of many of President Trump's false claims about. A post on Facebook theorized that the two disasters were connected by a plot to steal the election. Dominion Voting Systems may sue President Trump personally for There is no reason to suppose that it would be likely, or even possible, that these buildings, would be used to audit voting machines. The wishes are that I forever have to look over my shoulder," Coomer said. The reason? Its true that an AT&T-owned building in Nashville was one of many buildings damaged in Fridays. 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. An executive for a voting machine company that has been the target of conspiracy theories in the aftermath of Donald Trump's 2020 election loss and been baselessly accused of swinging the. 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 the equipment was recently relocated to the companys building that was damaged in the blast. 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,. First, QAnon. But he has no idea if that will ever be possible. Dominion representatives havealsodenouncedthe conspiracy theory, calling it another "bizarre lie" with "zero credibility.". . Earlier this week, Skoglund showed NBC three election systems were still online even after officials had been told they were vulnerable. Last month Dominion filed a $1.6bn defamation suit against Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, accusing it of trying to boost ratings by amplifying the bogus claims. Claims that two buildings that were destroyed on Christmas Day were both holding evidence related to the 2020 U.S. presidential election are untrue. On January 8, it filed a defamation suit against pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell, seeking $1.3 billion in damages. Secretary Hargett is the chief executive officer of the Department of State with oversight of more than 300 employees. In the wake of the Christmas morning explosion in Nashville, Tenn., a baseless conspiracy theory started circulating online that claims Nashville's downtown AT&T complex, which was damaged in. Dominion Voting Systems on Tuesday morning filed three $1.6 billion defamation lawsuits against two pro-Trump media networks and an outspoken Trump ally, the latest in a string of suits from the . Donald Trump went after media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his network Fox News in rants on Truth Social where he once again pushed the baseless and debunked claim that the . Thank you for supporting our journalism. 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. We should not connect our voting machines directly to the computer networks. Dominion Voting Systems Inc - Company Profile and News the dominion voting system that was the subject of an enormous amount of controversy, is a dramatic improvement over prior forms of voting. 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. ", More:Three firefighters hurt battling three-alarm blaze in Rochester. 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. Newsmax Settles Dominion Executive's Defamation Lawsuit, Apologizes But Skogland points to some good news. The Poynter Institute Menu. The voting conspiracy theories that have led millions of Republicans to feel as though the election was stolen from them, which are still spreading, have also led to calls for Coomer's head. Its disgusting. Reuters Fact Check previously debunked this claim here . While a building was destroyed in a blast in Nashville on Christmas Day, and a printing company in New York state caught fire on Christmas Eve and later burned down, neither building held evidence related to the U.S. elections. We rate thisclaim as FALSE, because it wasn't supported by our research. The bomb squad was en route. The broadcast then began a 15-minute countdown,before the RV exploded, according to The Tennessean. In counties that didn't use Dominion systems, Biden got 1.54 million votes to Trump's 1.52 million. hide caption. But now, some state officials worry that the machines may pose a security risk and are pushing to have the modems removed. In February, Dominion filed a lawsuit against Lindell and his company, alleging he defamed them by repeatedly claiming to have evidence their voting machines fraudulently flipped votes. The three largest voting manufacturing companies Election Systems &Software, Dominion Voting Systems and Hart InterCivic have acknowledged they all put modems in some of their tabulators and scanners. In preparing for this November's election, the company gamed out all sorts of worst-case scenarios, but it wasn't on anyone's radar that Dominion and its employees could become the targets of threats. While Kennard served at the FCC and as EU ambassador and he joined AT&Ts board of directors as Chairman in Nov. 2020 (here), Greer confirmed Kennard is not the former owner of the AT&T building that was destroyed in Nashville, as the posts claim. Read more about our fact-checking work here . 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. Audit of Dominion voting machines in Wisconsin shows minor issues - TMJ4 But to draw that connection, a number of other groups are brought into the fold and it doesn't add up. The bomb was located in a recreational vehicle owned by Warner. Dominion's Defamation Lawsuits Are Still Active - FactCheck.org Jim Greer, associate vice president for corporate communications at AT&T, was blunt in an email response to PolitiFact: "That is not true," he wrote. The AT&T building in downtown Nashville. 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. Once they had identified such systems, they contacted the relevant election officials and also provided the information to reporter Kim Zetter, who published the findings in Vices Motherboard in August. The post implies that the bombing was an attempt to stop the audit and cover up voter fraud. Dominion Voting Systems and Election Systems & Software. In counties that used Dominion systems, Biden got 888,259 votes to Trump's 851,069. Shasta cuts ties with Dominion amid unfounded voting fraud claims - Los "It does appear that the intent was more destruction than death," said David Rausch, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, inan interview on NBC's "Today." This is bogus. (Read more about ourpartnership with Facebook.). The FBI confirmed that a man named Anthony Warner was responsible for the bombing and was killed in the blast. Some users seemed to recognize the story as fake, but others didnt. Ohio county rejects Dominion voting machines in response to pressure Some posts have said the Nashville explosion was caused by a missile. The printing business took to social media to debunk the claim itself. Even if an election is run perfectly, it doesn't matter to a sizable portion of the public who believes it was unfair. 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. Heres more information on Facebooks fact-checking program: https://www.facebook.com/help/1952307158131536. DNA from human remains found at the scene matched Warner, and investigators found financial records for components that he may have used to construct the bomb. Reuters debunked this claim here . Spokespeople for AT&T and Dominion confirmed to the AP that AT&T had no contract to audit Dominion machines, and no Dominion machines were to be sent to Nashville. ", More:Nashville police bodycam footage shows raw moments of chaos before and after explosion. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. The post reads: In Nashville 2 days ago an RV pulled up to a building and over a loud speaker announced to clear the area..the RV then blew up taking half a building with it..oh, minor detail - inside that building were the Dominion voting machines being audited. While the post does not specify which building they believed the machines were held in, a Dominion Voting Systems spokesperson said by email that none of their machines were anywhere in the area of the explosion or were being audited in Nashville that day. According to the post, that firm ownedthe AT&T building outside of which the Christmas bombing occurred. 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 . Those modems that ES&S [and other manufacturers] are putting in their voting machines are network connections, and that leaves them vulnerable to hacking by anybody who can connect to that network.. Trump Campaign Knew Lawyers' Voting Machine Claims Were Baseless, Memo The machines America votes on seem to be capturing the interest of some in Congress. The largest manufacturer of voting machines, ES&S, told NBC News their systems are protected by firewalls and are not on the public internet. But both Skoglund and Andrew Appel, a Princeton computer science professor and expert on elections, said such firewalls can and have been breached. The posts all tie AT&T with Dominion, holding the explosion to be alleged proof of conspiracy. The cities of West Bend and Mequon's Dominion machine audit found one vote changed each after their hand counts. Hismotive is unknown. How the Dominion Voting Machine Controversy Shaped - Newsweek "The minute I saw it, it left a big pit in my stomach," he said. https://archive.is/qqjBh Paul E. Singer-Elliott Management, aka "The Vulture", reportedly controls CNN parent, AT&T, as well as Twitter. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. Read more about our fact-checking workhere . 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. Newsmax TV Airs Fact-Check on Smartmatic and Dominion - Mediaite Early Christmas morning, police in Nashville came across an RV parked on Second Avenue, outside an AT&T transmission building, whileresponding to reports of shots fired in the area, Metro Nashville Police spokesperson Don Aaron told The Tennessean that day. Copyright 2023 Politifact. It is no longer federally certified. These are real, tangible things coming out of these baseless accusations.". Dominion told AFP the claim is "another bizarre lie being spread by known conspiracy theorists.". "I actually am in fear for my safety," Coomer said recently, speaking by video call from an undisclosed location to Colorado Public Radio. This conspiracy theory has been debunked by various experts as reported by Reuters here and other fact checkers including Snopes, Factcheck.org and PolitiFact here , here and here . Powell was one of the faces of the Trump. But that is an overstatement, according to a team of 10 independent cybersecurity experts who specialize in voting systems and elections. Donate State Editions California Florida Dominion Voting Systems CEO John Poulos is not ruling out legal action against President Trump, whose surrogates have spent nearly two months alleging the Nov. 3 election, which Trump lost, may . Select an Infowars smear of Dominion Voting Systems. Cerberus Capital previously owned the AT&T Building, onceknownas the BellSouth Building,where the company has operated its Tennessee headquarters since the building's erection in 1994. False. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. A newly-released court filing in the Dominion voting machines defamation lawsuit . The post also mentions the Kraken or supercomputer and says that the cooling system for this computer was located in the AT&T building. Shasta to become 1st California county to drop Dominion voting machines Jim Greer, a spokesperson for AT&T, told USA TODAY the claims are "not true. More on Dominion:Fact check: Viral photo shows fake logo and slogan for Dominion Voting Systems. There is no evidence to support the claim that the Nashville bombing or City Blue Imaging's fire were connected to election malfeasance, so we rate this claim FALSE. Rating: False About this rating On Christmas. A public relations firmtold the Associated Presson behalf of Dominion that the company "has no connection to AT&T, the building, Nashville, family members of the Bidens or the Clintons, and Staple Street is not owned by Cerberus. The Company offers voting systems and scanning devices, as well as resource planning, training management, quality control . Reuters found no evidence that Cerberus Capital Management (www.cerberus.com/) owns Dominion. "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. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. The electronic voting system company accused the television network of spreading lies that Dominion machines were used to rig the 2020 election against Donald Trump.