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. OANN is doubling down on election conspiracy theories after Dominion "Bombing investigations can take years," Darrell DeBusk, an FBI spokesman based inTennessee, told The Tennessean. 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 bomb is in this vehicle and will explode." The printing business took to social media to debunk the claim itself. But none of this is true. "Some of the threats that I've gotten have made very clear that these actors are in it for the long haul. In August 2021, Dominion Voting Systems programmed machines for the county's upcoming elections. "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. Dominion representatives havealsodenouncedthe conspiracy theory, calling it another "bizarre lie" with "zero credibility.". 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. "What we should do is remove all of the unnecessary, hackable pathways, such as modems. 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. Thank you for supporting our journalism. There is no reason to suppose that it would be likely, or even possible, that these buildings, would be used to audit voting machines. He was present when the bomb went off, and he perished in the bombing," Cochran said. NBC News asked the two other major manufacturers how many of their tabulators with modems were currently in use. The companys sales manager, John Mealey ( here , here ), also spoke about the rumor to local ABC affiliate WHAM-TV, saying: Its crazy, the amount of misinformation that you see.. . He also serves on 16 boards and commissions, on two of which he is the presiding member. Some users seemed to recognize the story as fake, but others didnt. More than a month ago, Eric Coomer went into hiding. The explosion injured three other people and damaged businesses in downtown Nashville, including an AT&T switching center, which resulted in widespread communications outages. Secretary Hargett is the chief executive officer of the Department of State with oversight of more than 300 employees. A Dominion voting machine in Georgia. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. On Nov. 21, a group protested in front of Dominion's Denver headquarters, waving American flags and signs saying "fraud equals arrests." Immediately, Coomer knew things would blow up. The explosion disrupted AT&T wireless and internet services, leading to widespread 911 issues in the Nashville area, The Tennessean reported. 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). This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. View list by county(.pdf) and learn more about each system using the links below. 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. Didi Martinez is an associate producer with the NBC News Investigative Unit. 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). Our fact check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook. A spokesperson for the FBI's Denver Field Office confirmed that the FBI executed the . Kevin Monahan is a producer for the NBC News Investigative Unit. 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. There is a bomb. 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 . Its true that an AT&T-owned building in Nashville was one of many buildings damaged in Fridays bombing, causing widespread communications outages. 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. he instructions and videos shown here have been prepared by the manufacturers and are general in nature. The RV was parked on Second Avenue in Nashville, outside an AT&Ttransmission building, among other businesses and residences. 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 dominion voting system that was the subject of an enormous amount of controversy, is a dramatic improvement over prior forms of voting. DNA found at the scene matched Warner's, according to an FBI press release. APS ASSESSMENT: False. 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. Sumit Ganguli - Harvard University - New York City - LinkedIn The broadcast then began a 15-minute countdown,before the RV exploded, according to The Tennessean. Read more about our fact-checking work here . All those. 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. President Donald Trump's attorney Lin Wood reportedly experienced a series of ups and downs Sunday in a court battle to ensure Georgia elections officials do not wipe Dominion voting machines, and won a temporary restraining order following a night-time Zoom hearing. The AT&T building the posts likely refer to was not the one outside which the bomb exploded on Christmas morning. 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. 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. Fact check: A New York printing company that burned down was not under The bomb was located in a recreational vehicle owned by Warner. 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. But the company did not account for the new voting centers, so the Williamson County. Trump fumes at Rupert Murdoch over his bombshell Fox News Dominion Whether it's the standard online trolls, voicemails that are left almost on a daily basis, being called a traitor to this country, I can't even begin to describe what effect this has had on my life," he said. One theory shared thousands of times on Facebook over the weekend tries to connect the explosion to voting machines used in the Nov. 3 election. Voting machine company executive sues Trump allies for defamation - CNN Powell is named in Coomer's suit, along with the president's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. 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. 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? 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. That building is located at 333 Commerce St., roughly a quarter mile from where the bomb went off. Skoglund said that they identified only one company among the systems they detected on line, ES&S. The location of the heavily damaged buildings seen in the photograph accompanying the post appear to show 170 to 176 2nd Avenue North in Nashville after the explosion. Donate State Editions California Florida 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. Dominion Voting Systems, Inc. provides voting machines and tabulators. The Nashville outlet found . AP'S ASSESSMENT: False. 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. We can not make our computers perfectly secure," he said. 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. Shasta cuts ties with Dominion amid unfounded voting fraud claims - Los Audit of Dominion voting machines in Wisconsin shows minor issues - TMJ4 THE FACTS: As federal officials work to piece together a motive for the blast that rattled downtown Nashville on Christmas morning, social media users have invented their own far-fetched theories. 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. FACT CHECK: Does Joe Biden's Brother-In-Law Own Dominion Voting Systems? 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. "I actually am in fear for my safety," Coomer said recently, speaking by video call from an undisclosed location to Colorado Public Radio. More on Dominion:Fact check: Viral photo shows fake logo and slogan for Dominion Voting Systems. The posts all tie AT&T with Dominion, holding the explosion to be alleged proof of conspiracy. Did AT&T Have a Contract to Audit Dominion Voting Systems? See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. "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.. "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. On Christmas Day, an RV in Nashville, Tennessee, exploded, severelydamaging many of the buildings around it in the explosion. 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. the post reads. Chinese parts, hidden ownership, growing scrutiny: Inside - NBC News The post's creator did not respond to USA TODAY's request for comment. Williamson County to ditch Dominion voting machines after state review These are real, tangible things coming out of these baseless accusations.". The user who created the post did not respond to USA TODAY's request for comment. 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. The ATT building in Nashville that was affected by the bomb was owned by Cerebus (sic) Capital. In 2006, Cerberus Capital acquired it, according to a 2006 News Channel 5 Nashville report. 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.. 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. Rupert Murdoch says some Fox hosts 'endorsed' false election claims "They" Sent This Tornado (with David French) - The Bulwark The machines America votes on seem to be capturing the interest of some in Congress. 'Online and vulnerable': Experts find nearly three dozen U.S. voting Dominion did not respond to numerous requests from NBC News for their sales numbers. why?" 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. 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. 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. 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. So many government officials like Manfra have said the same thing over the last few years that it is commonly accepted as gospel by most Americans. ", Dominion Voting Systems Employee Sues Trump Campaign And Allies, Alleging Defamation, Former Election Security Official Says It Will Take Years To Undo Disinformation, Barr Says No Need For Special Counsel For Hunter Biden Probe, Election Fraud Claims. 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. Next theory: The bombing was an attempt to stop an AT&T audit into Dominion software and cover up election corruption. The investigation of the Nashville bombing is ongoing, but the Facebook post is inaccurate and ridiculous. VERIFY: No, AT&T was not auditing voting machines inside a building And we knew that wasn't true. 'Beyond bizarre': Dominion CEO testifies election fraud claims about Those networks are among the defendants Coomer is suing. How Eric Coomer Became the 'Perfect Villain' for Voting Conspiracists 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. IE 11 is not supported. CLAIM: AT&T got a contract to do a forensic audit of Dominion Voting Systems machines and those machines were recently moved . His top goal right now is pretty simple hoping one day it'll be safe to return home. It was an assurance designed to bolster public confidence in the way America votes: Voting machines are not connected to the internet.. It is true Kennard serves on the board of Staple Street Capital (not Staple Street execs as the posts say). 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. 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 ). These claims present no convincing evidence and include conspiracy links that have been debunked. Their evidence: a grainy black-and-white video. 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). And thats not what were about. Copyright 2023 Politifact. Does Joe Biden's family own Dominion Voting Systems? Nope 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 . If you have super majorities, Tennessee is like an R plus twenty state. 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. Both sit on Dominion's board. causing widespread communications outages. Social media is home to several conspiracy theories about the explosion in Nashville on Christmas Day. 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. CNN didnt report that Anthony Warner, the person authorities have identified as the bomber, died from COVID-19.