That's false. (Photo by James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images). Those modems connect to cell phone networks, which, in turn, are connected to the internet. So did the type of explosives used to detonate the blast. OANN is doubling down on election conspiracy theories after Dominion Detailed voter instructions for the Infinity voting unit, How to Vote an Optical Scan Ballot with Unisyn Equipment, Public Records Policy and Records Request Form. Dominion Voting Systems, a company beset by dubious election fraud claims in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, said "human error" was to blame after machines in a Pennsylvania. 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. Shasta County has become a hotbed for unproven conspiracy theories about rigged voting, fueled by former . "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. Some users seemed to recognize the story as fake, but others didnt. Trump Campaign Knew Lawyers' Voting Machine Claims Were Baseless, Memo A sample ballot is shown via the Dominion Voting Systems that Georgians use to vote. 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. Cerberus Capital Management, the firm named in the posts, does not own Dominion, nor does it own the company that does own Dominion, Staple Street Capital. The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has dismissed the claim of an election hacking and vote manipulation operation known as Hammer and Scorecard. (here). Thats an interesting coincidence.. The following three posts were flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. Thank you for supporting our journalism. The accusation started with a conservative activist in Colorado, Joe Oltmann. Investigators say the explosion in Nashville was perpetrated by a 63-year-old Tennessean named Anthony Warner, who blared a warning to nearby people from his RV requesting they evacuate before the bomb detonated. The company, which sells electronic voting hardware and software, contends that some Fox News employees deliberately amplified false claims by Trump supporters that Dominion machines had changed . There is no evidence that the AT&T switching center damaged by the explosion (here) housed a supercomputer being used to alter the elections outcome. It was an assurance designed to bolster public confidence in the way America votes: Voting machines are not connected to the internet.. "Bombing investigations can take years," Darrell DeBusk, an FBI spokesman based inTennessee, told The Tennessean. Jim Greer, Assistant Vice President of Corporate Communications at AT&T, told Reuters via email: None of the things in the post are true.. 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??" Dominion told AFP the claim is "another bizarre lie being spread by known conspiracy theorists.". But companies that specialize in the subject said it is getting exponentially worse. That team of election security experts say that last summer, they discovered some systems are, in fact, online. https://archive.is/qqjBh Paul E. Singer-Elliott Management, aka "The Vulture", reportedly controls CNN parent, AT&T, as well as Twitter. Some of Trump's supporters have focused on Coomer as the supposed evil mastermind. Full text of Commercial and Financial Chronicle : April 6, 1940, Vol 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. 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. Powell was one of the faces of the Trump. 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. He was present when the bomb went off, and he perished in the bombing," Cochran said. There may not be answers to the Christmas Day bombing in Nashville anytime soon. "Thats an interesting coincidence.". He believes there is time to make real change before the 2020 election. But none of this is true. Jake Rollow, director of communications for the Michigan Department of State, said in a statement to NBC News, Even though the results are unofficial, if these unofficial results were disrupted or manipulated, it could still cause confusion on Election Day., "The department will consider the advisory commissions recommendations to improve the security of the process," Rollow continued. FACT CHECK: Does Joe Biden's Brother-In-Law Own Dominion Voting Systems? Claims that two buildings that were destroyed on Christmas Day were both holding evidence related to the 2020 U.S. presidential election are untrue. In an email to PolitiFact, a Dominion spokesperson said the company and AT&T are calling on everyone to reject these baseless rumors: "Americans should continue to seek information from verifiable, trusted sources, such as law enforcement authorities.". Everyone Dominion, Smartmatic Suing Over Election Conspiracy - Insider Behind it is the notion that if voting systems are not online, hackers will have a harder time compromising them. February 28, 2023, 1:26 PM. More:Fact check: No, Joe Biden's brother-in-law does not own Dominion Voting Systems. ", More:Nashville police bodycam footage shows raw moments of chaos before and after explosion. An Expert on Voting Machines Explains How They Work - Scientific American 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, 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. After that podcast went out, the threats quickly arrived. 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. Social media posts from the event tagged the far-right group the Proud Boys. 2023 www.statesman.com. 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 . This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. 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. The West Bend clerk wrote, "The wrong marking device was used to mark the . The post was flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. The voting rights of more than 55,000 formerly incarcerated Minnesotans were restored on Friday, as Gov. This is bogus. The broadcast then began a 15-minute countdown,before the RV exploded, according to The Tennessean. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. And we knew that wasn't true. The bulletin circulated among state election officials earlier this week and publicly shared online, Friday marks the first time CISA has used its vulnerability disclosure program to probe . The report claims the results of the election in . Three days later, on November 6th, AT&T named William "Bill" E. Kennard Chairman of its Board of Directors. Singer reportedly funded the original investigation Both companies have also denied that AT&T held a contract to audit machines from Dominion Voting Systems (other Fact Checks on these claims can be seen here and here ). The posts all tie AT&T with Dominion, holding the explosion to be alleged proof of conspiracy. 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. CNN didnt report that Anthony Warner, the person authorities have identified as the bomber, died from COVID-19. In a Dominion-themed segment, an Infowars host speaking during a November Washington, D.C., rally presaged the January 6 violence by hyping the . False. Reuters debunked this claim here . Generally speaking, the media in those locations are kinda clamoring to get unofficial results as quickly as possible., When asked if the desire for speed was at odds with accuracy and security, Burt said, its not my place to judge that.. Powell is named in Coomer's suit, along with the president's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Last fall, when ES&S gave NBC News an exclusive tour at its headquarters in Omaha, Neb., Chief Executive Officer Tom Burt defended using modems when asked about the Sprint and Verizon modems seen in ES&S's testing area. "The specific steps taken would depend on the recommendation and the timeline required to make changes effectively.. The bomb squad was en route. The reason? ", Both Snopes and AFP reached the same conclusion. Hismotive is unknown. On January 8, it filed a defamation suit against pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell, seeking $1.3 billion in damages. Their evidence: a grainy black-and-white video. 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. . ES&S has repeatedly advertised its DS200 with internal modem a critical component to ES&Ss voting systems as being EAC certified when, in fact, it is not, the letter said. Fact check: Nashville bombing, NY fire unrelated, not tied to election More on Dominion:Fact check: Viral photo shows fake logo and slogan for Dominion Voting Systems. A widely sharedpost on Facebook alleges that four days before the bombing, a rumor circulated that AT&T was awarded a contract to audit Dominion's voting machines, which were supposedly being sent to Nashville. Tre Hargett was elected by the Tennessee General Assembly to serve as Tennessees 37th secretary of state in 2009 and re-elected in 2013, 2017, and 2021. 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 ). Copyright 2023 Politifact. The post, which has been shared almost 900 times,makes two claims:A buildingdamaged in the Nashville explosion was holding Dominion Voting Systems machines set to be audited, and in New York, the company that burned was under investigation for printing and shipping fake ballots to Pennsylvania. Your membership is the foundation of our sustainability and resilience. The FBI confirmed that a man named Anthony Warner was responsible for the bombing and was killed in the blast. In the weeks following the election, the election technology firm Dominion Voting Systems has been the target of baseless allegations of election fraud, according to the Washington Post.Now a viral Facebook post attempts to connect President-elect Joe Biden to the company by claiming his sister is married to Stephen Owens, who, the post alleges, owns Dominion Voting Systems. subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. And I don't know that all these jurisdictions are aware of that because ES&S is advertising otherwise.. The post implies that the bombing was an attempt to stop the audit and cover up voter fraud. But that is an overstatement, according to a team of 10 independent cybersecurity experts who specialize in voting systems and elections. "Very, very interesting.". Voting machine company executive sues Trump allies for defamation - CNN Coomer said the first barb aimed at him came five days after the election. Note that aspects of Tennessee law may differ with what is seen on the videos. 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. "Dominion and AT&T have both called on the media and the public to reject the baseless rumors circulating on social media, which suggest without evidence that there was some election-related connection to the Nashville explosion," a spokesperson for Dominion told USA TODAY. 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. City Blue Imaging Services' Facebook, Dec. 27. "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. AT&T had a contract to conduct a forensic audit of Dominion Voting Systems in Nashville just prior to a December 2020 explosion in that city. "That's all still speculation at this point as we continue in our investigation with all of our partners. Law enforcement authorities have suggested that Warner may have been paranoid about 5G technology, a QAnon-related conspiracy theory that makes an array of unproven claims including that ithelps spread COVID-19and is used as a spying tool by the government. 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. But to draw that connection, a number of other groups are brought into the fold and it doesn't add up. "Conspiracy theory links false claim of AT&T election audit to bombing, Fact check: Hugo Chvez's family does not own Dominion Voting Systems, Fact check: Dominion voting machines didn't delete votes from Trump, switch them to Biden, Live politics updates: Dominion says it may sue over election conspiracy theories, subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy, Cision PR Newswire archive, July 16, 2018, ", The Tennessean archives, July 23, 2004, ", News Channel 5 Nashville archives, Dec. 18, 2006, ", Email correspondence withJim Greer, a spokesperson for AT&T, Email correspondence with a spokesperson for Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion is a company that supplies voting machines in more than two-dozen states, including Ohio. 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 November's election, spread by allies and pro-Trump media. Some have also received threatening letters. Both sit on Dominion's board. So that unofficial election results can more quickly be relayed to the public. 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). "Some of the threats that I've gotten have made very clear that these actors are in it for the long haul. Let's start here: The man behind the Dec. 25 bombing in downtown Nashville, Tenn., died of COVID-19, according to a popular and wrong Facebook post. Joe Bidens Brother in Law, Steven Owens, is the cofounder of Staple Street Execs along with William Kennard (mentioned above).. 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. Social media is home to several conspiracy theories about the explosion in Nashville on Christmas Day. AT&T not conducting voting machine audit near Nashville explosion site. Dominion 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, said Tony Fratto, a partner at the PR firm Hamilton Place Strategies who emailed the AP on behalf of Dominion. A spokesperson for Dominion Voting Systems told Reuters via email: Dominion calls on the media and the public to reject the baseless rumors circulating on social media, which suggest without evidence that there was some election-related connection to the Nashville explosion.. That is just inviting trouble.. However, both AT&T and Dominion have disclaimed the notion that the former company was engaged in audit of the latter, or that any Dominion-related systems were being moved to Nashville in preparation for a "forensic audit" (by anyone). John Bazemore/AP Shasta to become 1st California county to drop Dominion voting machines You cansubscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here. It is true Kennard serves on the board of Staple Street Capital (not Staple Street execs as the posts say). Here are the facts: CLAIM: President-elect Joe Biden's sister is married to Stephen Owens, the co-founder of the private equity firm Staple Street Capital, which owns Dominion Voting Systems . The printing business took to social media to debunk the claim itself. But none of this is true. Donate State Editions California Florida All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. Heres why:In the wake of theChristmas morning explosion in Nashville, Tenn., a baseless conspiracy theory startedcirculatingonlinethat claims Nashvilles downtown AT&T complex, which was damaged in the blast, had gotten a contract to conduct a "forensic audit" on Dominion Voting Systems machines. 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. The extent of our relationship is this: In 2009, Smartmatic licensed the use of a Dominion voting machine for use in the Philippines. Lin Wood Wins Restraining Order to Stop Georgia Elections Officials Recently, however, there are signs that elections companies, like some election officials, are pushing back against the false accusations. Lindell told the Minnesota Reformer, that he and a friend were on their way home from duck hunting in Iowa and were in the Hardee's drive through when three cars with four FBI agents surrounded his vehicle. All of these businesses were reported to be damaged in the blast (here). It really is. Were focusing on moving forward.. Dominion Voting Systems lost a sale of more than 1,400 new machines on Wednesday after commissioners for Stark County, Ohio, voted down the purchase against a recommendation from the. 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. 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. 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. 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. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.