A Facebook post (here) shared more than a thousand times has falsely claimed: In New York a printing press company, under investigation for printing and shipping fake voting ballots into Pennsylvania, burned to the ground Xmas morning.. We rate thisclaim as FALSE, because it wasn't supported by our research. The reason? Federal officials have identified the man believed to be behind the bombing, and they are working to discern a motive. By the time the news conference occurred on Nov. 19, Mr. Trump's campaign had already prepared an internal memo on many of the outlandish claims about the company, Dominion Voting Systems, and. US Elections were November 3, 2020. While the voting machines themselves are not designed to be online, the larger voting systems in many states end up there, putting the voting process at risk. In . 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. There is no evidence that suggests that the explosion was election-related. Bogus conspiracy theory spreading online claims the Nashville bombing was an attempt to cover up voter fraud. 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. The bomb was located in a recreational vehicle owned by Warner. 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.. Posted By: Dreadnought, 2/28/2023 9:52:47 PM Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News highlights former House Speaker Paul Ryan's alleged influence over Fox News Channel's (FNC) editorial control, reportedly urging . The media intelligence platform Zignal Labs, in an analysis performed at NPR's request, found that misinformation narratives related to vote-by-mail systems alone were mentioned across the media spectrum more than 40 million times since Election Day. Statement:The Nashville bombing was an attempt to stop an AT&T audit into Dominion software and cover up election corruption. causing widespread communications outages. "You may want to read a book some day to learn about my reference to rising like a #phoenix. Dominion Voting Systems, Inc. provides voting machines and tabulators. The AT&T buildingon Second Avenueis owned by BellSouth Telecommunications, an operating company of AT&T, according to local records. Some shorter posts here and here say: Wait, the bombing in Nashville was at the AT&T Data Center right after they got the contract to audit the Dominion Voting machines? He was present when the bomb went off, and he perished in the bombing," Cochran said. Now the process of counting these votes . 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 it helps spread COVID-19 and is used as a spying tool by the government. 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. Did City Blue Imaging Print Voting Ballots, Then Burn Down? 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. In an interview with Rochester's ABC 13, City Blue Imagingsales manager John Mealy condemned misinformation about the tragedy and dismissed the claims again. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. There is no evidence that suggests that the explosion was election-related. Some just say AT&T had a contract to conduct a forensic audit on Dominion Voting Systems. False. This weekend, both Fox Business Network and Newsmax appeared to answer those demands with segments debunking some claims. With the 2020 presidential election only ten months away, Appel and Skoglund believe all modems can and should be removed from election systems. 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. Both companies have denied the posts claims, saying that there was no such audit and that Dominions machines were not recently transported to Nashville. Both Dominion Voting Systems andAT&T confirmed the communications company was not contracted to audit Dominion's machines. That flood reached Dominion the week after the election, according to Zignal, and misinformation related to the company's machines has been mentioned more than 10 million times since then. The post's creator did not respond to USA TODAY's request for comment. He also serves on 16 boards and commissions, on two of which he is the presiding member. The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has dismissed the claim of an election hacking and vote manipulation operation known as Hammer and Scorecard. (here). Oltmann claimed that Coomer said with a laugh on the call that he would make sure Trump didn't win the election. However, there are no news reports available online that mention that the business was involved with an investigation related to the election, and Google searches for any mention of the company and an investigation into ballot fraud from the start of September to the date of the fire do not reveal even online rumors to that effect circulating before the fire broke out (here), The companys Facebook page has addressed rumors that have spread since the fire, saying: To the misinformed people on @Twitter and @instagram #cityblueimaging does not print #ballots (here). The conspiracy theory appears to have originated in a tweet by Lin Wood, an attorney and Trump supporter, who has pushed a number of false election claims. The bomber was lateridentified by U.S. Attorney Don Cochranas Anthony Warner, 63, according to The Tennessean. This is bogus. He has independently become part of the broader Dominion conspiracy theories, though, with some claiming he's Joe Biden's brother-in-law. 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. Before starting Staple Street Capital, Yaghoobzadeh worked as a senior vice president for private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. Powell is named in Coomer's suit, along with the president's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Copyright 2023 Politifact. It really is. New York State Police Director of Public Information Beau Duffy told Reuters via email they were unaware of any state police investigations relating to the claims linking the paper company to ballots. So we will clear it up: Its fake. 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. Kevin Skoglund, senior technical advisor at the National Election Defense Coalition. The user who created the post did not respond to USA TODAY's request for comment. It wasn't meant to kill people, but to destroy a building. Claims that two buildings that were destroyed on Christmas Day were both holding evidence related to the 2020 U.S. presidential election are untrue. Did AT&T Have a Contract to Audit Dominion Voting Systems? Its disgusting. Breitbart, by Hannah Bleau Original Article. The post also mentions the Kraken or supercomputer and says that the cooling system for this computer was located in the AT&T building. Staple Street Capital has a managing director and co-founder named Stephen Owens. 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). Videos from law enforcement officials and local businesses show that the explosion occurred on 2nd Avenue North in downtown Nashville. ES&S confirmed they had sold scanners with wireless modems to at least 11 states. His top goal right now is pretty simple hoping one day it'll be safe to return home. 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. We kept hearing from election officials that voting machines were never on the internet, he said. 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 . And we knew that wasn't true. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. CNN didnt report that Anthony Warner, the person authorities have identified as the bomber, died from COVID-19. 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 post implies that the bombing was an attempt to stop the audit and cover up voter fraud. 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. "Thats an interesting coincidence.". The explosion in the heart of Nashville injured three people and damaged businesses including an AT&T switching center, disrupting mobile, internet and TV services across central Tennessee and parts of four other states (here). That building is located at 333 Commerce St., roughly a quarter mile from where the bomb went off. Donate State Editions California Florida 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. 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. And I don't know that all these jurisdictions are aware of that because ES&S is advertising otherwise.. 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. David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994 as a creative outgrowth of his wide-ranging interests in a variety of subjects (particularly folklo read more. First, QAnon. 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. Staple Street Capital took part in a deal with management to acquire Dominion in 2018 (here and here). The following three posts were flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. More on Dominion:Fact check: Viral photo shows fake logo and slogan for Dominion Voting Systems. It is true Kennard serves on the board of Staple Street Capital (not Staple Street execs as the posts say). Americans should continue to seek information from verifiable, trusted sources, such as law enforcement authorities, Dominion Voting Systems added. (Read more about, Breaking news meme generators are frequently used online to create fabricated headlines and chyrons such as this one. 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. Reuters Fact Check previously debunked this claim here . 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 . 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. There may not be answers to the Christmas Day bombing in Nashville anytime soon. These are conspiracies manufactured out of whole cloth. 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. Dominion provides election equipment and software to 28 states, including many of the swing states on which Trump has focused his post-election ire. On Christmas morning of 2020, a recreational vehicle exploded on the streets of Nashville near a building owned by AT&T that lies one block from the companys office tower. John Bazemore/AP After that podcast went out, the threats quickly arrived. Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, which sells electronic voting hardware and software, is suing both Fox News Network and parent company Fox Corp. for defamation. The broadcast then began a 15-minute countdown,before the RV exploded, according to The Tennessean. The posts all tie AT&T with Dominion, holding the explosion to be alleged proof of conspiracy. "The minute I saw it, it left a big pit in my stomach," he said. Reuters debunked this claim here . Please note the instructions and videos shown here have been prepared by the manufacturers and are general in nature. 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. Read more about our fact-checking work here . There is no evidence to support the claim that the explosionin Nashville and fire in Rochester, New York,that occurred around the holidays point toward a broader conspiracy to hide election malfeasance. But now, some state officials worry that the machines may pose a security risk and are pushing to have the modems removed. A spokesperson for the FBI's Denver Field Office confirmed that the FBI executed the . By Helen Coster and Jack Queen (Reuters) -A new filing from Dominion Voting Systems became public on Monday, as an April trial approaches in the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit brought by the voting technology company against Fox News over the U.S. cable news giant's coverage of the 2020 presidential election. Some have also received threatening letters. 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.. The West Bend clerk wrote, "The wrong marking device was used to mark the . 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. He claimed on his podcast that he'd infiltrated a call with Denver-area antifa members that included a man identified as "Eric from Dominion.". 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. The complicated theory began circulating soon after an RV exploded in downtown Nashville. This is part of The Associated Press ongoing effort to fact-check misinformation that is shared widely online, including work with Facebook to identify and reduce the circulation of false stories on the platform. Posts include debunked conspiracy claims attempting to tie the Nashville explosion Dominion voting systems. For election systems to be online, even momentarily, presents a serious problem, according to Appel. "And I probably will. For Coomer, that means his life may be forever changed. ", 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.". Across the country on Christmas Eve, a printing press company in New York burned to the ground. "I actually am in fear for my safety," Coomer said recently, speaking by video call from an undisclosed location to Colorado Public Radio. the post reads. Skoglund says those include the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida. 2023 Tennessee Secretaryof State |Web and Social Media Policies. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Social media posts from the event tagged the far-right group the Proud Boys. 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. 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. 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 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. Cynthia McFadden is the senior legal and investigative correspondent for NBC News. There is no reason to suppose that it would be likely, or even possible, that these buildings, would be used to audit voting machines. 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 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. More:Fact check: No, Joe Biden's brother-in-law does not own Dominion Voting Systems. Recently, however, there are signs that elections companies, like some election officials, are pushing back against the false accusations. 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. AT&T was not contracted to audit Dominion Voting Systems' machines, and no Dominion machines were being held in the building outside of which the bomb exploded, spokespeople for both AT&T and Dominion confirmed. 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. "Thats an interesting coincidence.". the dominion voting system that was the subject of an enormous amount of controversy, is a dramatic improvement over prior forms of voting. 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,. Select an Infowars smear of Dominion Voting Systems. February 28, 2023, 1:26 PM. (Photo by James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images). 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. https://archive.is/qqjBh Paul E. Singer-Elliott Management, aka "The Vulture", reportedly controls CNN parent, AT&T, as well as Twitter. 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.
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