But the company did not account for the new voting centers, so the Williamson County. "The minute I saw it, it left a big pit in my stomach," he said. Both companies have denied the posts claims, saying that there was no such audit and that Dominions machines were not recently transported to Nashville. The row housed Simply the Best $10 Boutique at 176 (here), Ensemble boutique at 174 (www.ensemblenashville.com/) and the Pride & Glory Tattoo Parlor at 172 (www.prideandglorytattoo.com/), as well as apartments on the upper floors (here). "The specific steps taken would depend on the recommendation and the timeline required to make changes effectively.. 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. 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. Reuters Fact Check previously debunked this claim here . Dominion told AFP the claim is "another bizarre lie being spread by known conspiracy theorists.". 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. "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. Modems in voting machines are a bad idea, said Appel. Read more about our fact-checking work here . Note that aspects of Tennessee law may differ with what is seen on the videos. Note that aspects of Tennessee law may differ with what is seen on the videos. APS ASSESSMENT: False. Across the country on Christmas Eve, a printing press company in New York burned to the ground. 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. Secretary Hargett is the chief executive officer of the Department of State with oversight of more than 300 employees. More than a month ago, Eric Coomer went into hiding. That's 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. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Some of Trump's supporters have focused on Coomer as the supposed evil mastermind. First, QAnon. But he has no idea if that will ever be possible. On Monday, The Associated Press debunked claims that Dominion has any connection with AT&T. Both Dominion Voting Systems andAT&T confirmed the communications company was not contracted to audit Dominion's machines. Staple Street Capital took part in a deal with management to acquire Dominion in 2018 (here and here). (Photo by James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images). 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. A spokesperson for Dominion Voting Systems confirmed to Reuters via email that the Stephen Owens at Staple Street has no family ties or business affiliations with Bidens sister, Valerie Biden Owens. And I don't know that all these jurisdictions are aware of that because ES&S is advertising otherwise.. But none of this is true. 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. Were focusing on moving forward.. Please note t he instructions and videos shown here have been prepared by the manufacturers and are general in nature. The building of City Blue Imaging (www.cityblueimaging.com/), a printing company in Rochester, New York, burnt down on Christmas morning after catching fire the night before ( here , here and here ). 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 P, Fact check: Joe Biden legally won presidential election, despite persistent contrary claims, Neighbor recalls warning, countdown before Nashville explosion, Fact check: Viral photo shows fake logo and slogan for Dominion Voting Systems, Fact check: No, Joe Biden's brother-in-law does not own Dominion Voting Systems, Nashville officials resolved to find bombing suspects, learn motive behind explosion, "Nashville bombing: What we know about downtown explosion on Christmas morning, FBI Memphis Special Agent in Charge Announces Identity of Remains Discovered in Nashville Explosion Site; Multi-Agency Investigation Continues, FBI identifies suspect in Nashville bombing, AT&T outage Sunday updates: 'Progress continues' in restoring service after Nashville bombing, Dominion Voting Systems Acquired by its Management Team and Staple Street Capital. View list by county(.pdf) and learn more about each system using the links below. Our fact check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook. A Michigan judge ordered the release Monday of an independent forensic audit report of the Dominion Voting Systems machines used in Antrim County, which flipped from a win for Democrat Joe Biden to President Donald Trump after a glitch was discovered and corrected. "I'm in fear for my family's safety. And thats not what were about. 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. Even if an election is run perfectly, it doesn't matter to a sizable portion of the public who believes it was unfair. On Nov. 21, a group protested in front of Dominion's Denver headquarters, waving American flags and signs saying "fraud equals arrests." This is bogus. "That's all still speculation at this point as we continue in our investigation with all of our partners. The AT&T buildingon Second Avenueis owned by BellSouth Telecommunications, an operating company of AT&T, according to local records. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Donate State Editions California Florida In the wake of the Christmas morning explosion in Nashville, Tenn., a baseless conspiracy theory started circulating online that 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. ", Both Snopes and AFP reached the same conclusion. 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. Thats an interesting coincidence.. This screengrab is being shared on social media without that context. He also serves on the boards of Ford Motor Company, MetLife and Duke Energy Corporation (here). "Very, very interesting.". The post also mentions the Kraken or supercomputer and says that the cooling system for this computer was located in the AT&T building. The post implies that the bombing was an attempt to stop the audit and cover up voter fraud. Authorities still dont know the reason for the Christmas day bombing, but theres no evidence it was election related. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. The City of Rochester government and police did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. Dominion representatives havealsodenouncedthe conspiracy theory, calling it another "bizarre lie" with "zero credibility.". 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. DNA found at the scene matched Warner's, according to an FBI press release. Posts include debunked conspiracy claims attempting to tie the Nashville explosion Dominion voting systems. The RV was parked on Second Avenue in Nashville, outside an AT&Ttransmission building, among other businesses and residences. The company recently threatened a number of groups repeating the claims with lawsuits, including One America News Network, Newsmax and Fox News. "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 FBI confirmed that a man named Anthony Warner was responsible for the bombing and was killed in the blast. Some of the posts attempted to further link AT&T to Dominion by claiming a former owner of the AT&T building was a board member of a firm that owns Dominion. Powell was one of the faces of the Trump. 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. 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. There is a bomb. Didi Martinez is an associate producer with the NBC News Investigative Unit. These are conspiracies manufactured out of whole cloth.. 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 . In counties that didn't use Dominion systems, Biden got 1.54 million votes to Trump's 1.52 million. 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. 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. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. Full Story. 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 . Even for elections nights., Appel agreed. Some just say AT&T had a contract to conduct a forensic audit on Dominion Voting Systems. But none of this is true. Cynthia McFadden is the senior legal and investigative correspondent for NBC News. (Read more about ourpartnership with Facebook.). On Tuesday, Coomer sued the Trump campaign and a number of allies, alleging defamation. 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. . Its true that an AT&T-owned building in Nashville was one of many buildings damaged in Fridays. 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. ", 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.". 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. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. 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. Coomer said the first barb aimed at him came five days after the election. The National Institute of Standards and Technology, which provides cybersecurity frameworks for state and local governments and other organizations, recommends that voting systems should not have wireless network connections. As of Friday, a motive in the bombing remained under investigation by the FBI, the ATF and Metro Nashville police. Powell is named in Coomer's suit, along with the president's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. According to the post, that firm ownedthe AT&T building outside of which the Christmas bombing occurred. The Poynter Institute Menu. We found over 35 [voting systems] had been left online and were still continuing to find more, Kevin Skoglund, a senior technical advisor at the election security advocacy group National Election Defense Coalition, told NBC News. Behind it is the notion that if voting systems are not online, hackers will have a harder time compromising them. Rating: False About this rating On Christmas. 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. ", Below the headline is an image that looks like its a picture from a CNN broadcast, with chyron that announces the Nashville bomber "died from COVID.". 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). More:Fact check: No, Joe Biden's brother-in-law does not own Dominion Voting Systems. 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.. 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. But companies that specialize in the subject said it is getting exponentially worse. Much of the voting equipment was by Dominion. The question is.. Did AT&T Have a Contract to Audit 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. Dominion was the first to snap. February 28, 2023, 1:26 PM. Since the 2016 election, Michigan authorized $82 million dollars to upgrade its election systems. Social media is home to several conspiracy theories about the explosion in Nashville on Christmas Day. "So, the explosion 'just happened . Heres more information on Facebooks fact-checking program: https://www.facebook.com/help/1952307158131536, Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. "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. 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. He has independently become part of the broader Dominion conspiracy theories, though, with some claiming he's Joe Biden's brother-in-law. 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. Statement:The Nashville bombing was an attempt to stop an AT&T audit into Dominion software and cover up election corruption. The Nashville outlet found . 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. 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. CNN didnt report that Anthony Warner, the person authorities have identified as the bomber, died from COVID-19. The Christmas morning bomb went off on Second Avenue, outside an AT&T transmission building. Some posts take the claim a step further, alleging that the former owner of the building was a board member of a firm that owns Dominion. 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. This material may not be reproduced without permission. Reuters debunked this claim here . The conspiracy theory has grown into a movement that is promoted by right-wing extremists. why?" Social media posts from the event tagged the far-right group the Proud Boys. 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 video, which was posted by a Facebook page called Red Pill Radio on Dec. 28, shows the outline of buildings and a highway in Nashville. TheBatman-shaped skyscraper was first owned by Prefco XIV, a limited partnership ofPitney Bowes, which bought the building in 1994 for $100.8 million, according to the building's deed. More on Dominion:Fact check: Viral photo shows fake logo and slogan for Dominion Voting Systems. Skoglund said that they identified only one company among the systems they detected on line, ES&S. 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. Examples can be seen here , here and here . His top goal right now is pretty simple hoping one day it'll be safe to return home. AT&T not conducting voting machine audit near Nashville explosion site. "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. The bomb is in this vehicle and will explode." Recently, however, there are signs that elections companies, like some election officials, are pushing back against the false accusations. 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. 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. "Coincidence? the dominion voting system that was the subject of an enormous amount of controversy, is a dramatic improvement over prior forms of voting. Dominion Voting Systems, a voting machine manufacturer founded in Canada, made equipment that is used in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. 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. 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. Before starting Staple Street Capital, Yaghoobzadeh worked as a senior vice president for private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has dismissed the claim of an election hacking and vote manipulation operation known as Hammer and Scorecard. (here). Dominion is a company that supplies voting machines in more than two-dozen states, including Ohio. Georgia, the site of so much controversy in the 2020 election, hurriedly switched in response to a judge's order in 2019 from all-electronic voting machines to Dominion models that. The bomber was lateridentified by U.S. Attorney Don Cochranas Anthony Warner, 63, according to The Tennessean. It wasn't meant to kill people, but to destroy a building. ", More:Three firefighters hurt battling three-alarm blaze in Rochester. 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 printing business took to social media to debunk the claim itself. Dominionwas acquired by private equity firm Staple Street Capital, co-founded by financiers Hootan Yaghoobzadeh and StephenOwens, in 2018. On January 8, it filed a defamation suit against pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell, seeking $1.3 billion in damages. 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. Thats an interesting coincidence., Some posts read: 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. The bomb was located in a recreational vehicle that Warner owned. A Dominion voting machine in Georgia. For Coomer, that means his life may be forever changed. The state of Michigan is currently grappling with this issue. "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.. Owners of Dominion Voting Systems,(the company many people are accusing of voter fraud) are former executives from Cerebus," another post reads. 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. subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. "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. 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 . Three days later, on November 6th, AT&T named William "Bill" E. Kennard Chairman of its Board of Directors. Others are not so sure, and the state has set up an advisory committee. Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com. A post on Facebook theorized that the two disasters were connected by a plot to steal the election. 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. Bogus conspiracy theory spreading online claims the Nashville bombing was an attempt to cover up voter fraud. The company put the building back on the market shortly thereafter; MetLife Inc., throughsubsidiary Prefco Fourteen, now owns the building, public records show. The bomb squad was en route. Dominion has played a central role in a number of unfounded conspiracy theories alleging election fraud, from foreign ownership to switching votes from one candidate to another. 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.. 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. Their evidence: a grainy black-and-white video. Newsmax TV aired a stunning fact-check on Monday of claims made on the network about voting companies used in the 2020 presidential election. 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. Speaker 13 . False. "What we should do is remove all of the unnecessary, hackable pathways, such as modems. Joe Bidens Brother in Law, Steven Owens, is the cofounder of Staple Street Execs along with William Kennard (mentioned above).. 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. 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. 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. for the blast that rattled downtown Nashville on Christmas morning, social media users have invented their own far-fetched theories. 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. Texas country-punk band Vandoliers are standing in solidarity with drag performers and the LGBTQ+ community. 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. City Blue Imaging Services' Facebook, Dec. 27. False. 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. 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 accusation started with a conservative activist in Colorado, Joe Oltmann. He is focused on New Technologies around AI led Predictive Analytics, Smart Machines, IT Process Automation etc.. through . The ATT building in Nashville that was affected by the bomb was owned by Cerebus (sic) Capital. With unfounded fraud claims swirling, red California county dumps Dominion voting machines. 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 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 .

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