The company put the building back on the market shortly thereafter; MetLife Inc., throughsubsidiary Prefco Fourteen, now owns the building, public records show. The AT&T building the posts likely refer to was not the one outside which the bomb exploded on Christmas morning. Q&A of the Day - Voting Machines Used in Florida's 2022 Elections Some of the posts (here) say: Dominion voting is owned by Cerberus Capital Management. Cerberus is run by Staple Street Execs. 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. A Dominion voting machine in Georgia. The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has dismissed the claim of an election hacking and vote manipulation operation known as Hammer and Scorecard. (here). 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 . In an all-caps tweet on Saturday night, Trump highlighted a report from One America News Network (OANN), a right-wing outlet, that claimed voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems. 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. That building is located at 333 Commerce St., roughly a quarter mile from where the bomb went off. But Skogland points to some good news. ", Both Snopes and AFP reached the same conclusion. "What we should do is remove all of the unnecessary, hackable pathways, such as modems. Donate State Editions California Florida The posts all tie AT&T with Dominion, holding the explosion to be alleged proof of conspiracy. Staple Street Capital took part in a deal with management to acquire Dominion in 2018 (here and here). According to the post, that firm ownedthe AT&T building outside of which the Christmas bombing occurred. Three days later, on November 6th, AT&T named William "Bill" E. Kennard Chairman of its Board of Directors. Jim Greer, a spokesperson for AT&T, told USA TODAY the claims are "not true. Those modems connect to cell phone networks, which, in turn, are connected to the internet. 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. 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. Dominion Lawsuit Showcases Paul Ryan's Influence over Fox News Channel's Editorial Control. The City of Rochester government and police did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. Note that aspects of Tennessee law may differ with what is seen on the videos. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. These are conspiracies manufactured out of whole cloth. But to draw that connection, a number of other groups are brought into the fold and it doesn't add up. The conservative network has seen its ratings surge in . Its crazy, the amount of misinformation that you see, Mealy said. "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 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.. The following three posts were flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. The bomber was lateridentified by U.S. Attorney Don Cochranas Anthony Warner, 63, according to The Tennessean. Rupert Murdoch says some Fox hosts 'endorsed' false election claims 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,. "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 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. Conspiracy theorists say the suicide bombing that rocked downtown Nashville was actually the result of a missile strike. Dominion Voting Systems Official Is In Hiding After Threats : NPR - NPR.org Rumors about an investigation into the company do not even appear in web searches until after the fire. He also serves on the boards of Ford Motor Company, MetLife and Duke Energy Corporation (here). 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 . ", More:Three firefighters hurt battling three-alarm blaze in Rochester. Dominion Voting Systems and Election Systems & Software. 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. 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. The report claims the results of the election in . 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. Joe Bidens Brother in Law, Steven Owens, is the cofounder of Staple Street Execs along with William Kennard (mentioned above).. 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. PolitiFact - No, AT&T was not conducting an audit of Dominion Voting The printing business took to social media to debunk the claim itself. Kevin Skoglund, senior technical advisor at the National Election Defense Coalition. That team of election security experts say that last summer, they discovered some systems are, in fact, online. The investigation of the Nashville bombing is ongoing, but the Facebook post is inaccurate and ridiculous. Some on social media have speculated that AT&T was contracted to audit Dominion Voting Systems, an election technology supplier that has become central to false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. No available external evidence suggests AT&T was involved in any such audit, either. 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. 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. All of these businesses were reported to be damaged in the blast (here). subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. 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. 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. Audit in Michigan County Refutes Dominion Conspiracy Theory As of now, the person of interest identified by the FBI in connection with the explosion, Anthony Quinn Warner, is believed to have been "paranoid about 5G technology" (another frequent subject of conspiracy theories) rather than possessing any election-related motive. An online search turns up segments on the pro-Trump outlets Newsmax and One America News Network discussing the allegations as well as people accusing Coomer of treason and calling for him to be publicly executed. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. 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). 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. "Thats an interesting coincidence.". There are currently two voting systems which are certified by the State of Florida's Division of Elections. Dominion did not respond to numerous requests from NBC News for their sales numbers. 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 Company offers voting systems and scanning devices, as well as resource planning, training management, quality control . the post reads. 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. 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 . On Christmas Day, an RV in Nashville, Tennessee, exploded, severelydamaging many of the buildings around it in the explosion. Fact check: Nashville bombing, NY fire unrelated, not tied to election 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. 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. But none of this is true. 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. 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. In August 2021, Dominion Voting Systems programmed machines for the county's upcoming elections. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. 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. More on Dominion:Fact check: Viral photo shows fake logo and slogan for Dominion Voting Systems. Much of the voting equipment was by Dominion. ", More:Nashville police bodycam footage shows raw moments of chaos before and after explosion. 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. According to Dominion, vote-switching and software malfunction allegations are "all baseless claims" that "have been debunked by election officials, subject matter experts and third-party fact. First, QAnon. 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.. That is just inviting trouble.. Were focusing on moving forward.. Statement:The Nashville bombing was an attempt to stop an AT&T audit into Dominion software and cover up election corruption. 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. Now, the alleged Dominion Voting Systems tie. 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. 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. 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 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. It wasn't meant to kill people, but to destroy a building. 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. 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. But companies that specialize in the subject said it is getting exponentially worse. This is bogus. The RV was parked on Second Avenue in Nashville, outside an AT&Ttransmission building, among other businesses and residences. We can not make our computers perfectly secure," he said. 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. "I'm in fear for my family's safety. AP'S ASSESSMENT: False. Representatives for companies involved say there is no truth to the claims. IE 11 is not supported. In . Claims that two buildings that were destroyed on Christmas Day were both holding evidence related to the 2020 U.S. presidential election are untrue. Democrats ask Fox not to push 'propaganda' on 2020 election The bomb was located in a recreational vehicle owned by Warner. Authorities still dont know the reason for the Christmas day bombing, but theres no evidence it was election related. 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. 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. 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. False claims about the election, Nashville - mcall.com An Expert on Voting Machines Explains How They Work - Scientific American Social media posts from the event tagged the far-right group the Proud Boys. On Nov. 21, a group protested in front of Dominion's Denver headquarters, waving American flags and signs saying "fraud equals arrests." 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 . We therefore again respectfully request that EAC investigate and take action to correct this serious issue., Once you add that modem, you are de-certifying it, Skoglund said. Dominion Voting Systems story should terrify AZ - The Arizona Republic "The minute I saw it, it left a big pit in my stomach," he said. Ohio county rejects Dominion voting machines in response to pressure He believes there is time to make real change before the 2020 election. Report Claims Dominion Ballot Error Rate Was At Least 85,000 Times FEC Some just say AT&T had a contract to conduct a forensic audit on Dominion Voting Systems. A sample ballot is shown via the Dominion Voting Systems that Georgians use to vote. Dominion's Defamation Lawsuits Are Still Active - FactCheck.org The post implies that the bombing was an attempt to stop the audit and cover up voter fraud. Dominion Voting Systems hits conservative networks, Trump ally with $1. Dominion told AFP the claim is "another bizarre lie being spread by known conspiracy theorists.". The bomb was located in a recreational vehicle that Warner owned. It's the first . Jim Greer, a spokesperson for AT&T,also told USA TODAY the claims are "not true.". 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. But the company did not account for the new voting centers, so the Williamson County. Fact check: A New York printing company that burned down was not under He has independently become part of the broader Dominion conspiracy theories, though, with some claiming he's Joe Biden's brother-in-law. "Fuck a drag bill," they wrote in an Instagram post. Shasta cuts ties with Dominion amid unfounded voting fraud claims - Los While federal investigators are still looking into the bombing, law enforcement officials have said Warner was responsible and died in the blast. 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. ", 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. On Tuesday, Coomer sued the Trump campaign and a number of allies, alleging defamation. 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. Even for elections nights., Appel agreed. Dominion Going After Right-Wing Media Stars Over Voting Fraud He was present when the bomb went off, and he perished in the bombing," Cochran said. For election systems to be online, even momentarily, presents a serious problem, according to Appel. AT&T not conducting voting machine audit near Nashville explosion site The FBI confirmed that a man named Anthony Warner was responsible for the bombing and was killed in the blast. 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. "That's all still speculation at this point as we continue in our investigation with all of our partners. Coomer said the first barb aimed at him came five days after the election. On Thursday night, the group performed their set at the Shed in Maryville, Tennessee, with all six of its members wearing dresses in protest of the state's newly enacted law on public drag performance. An executive at Dominion Voting Systems moved to dismiss Newsmax as a defendant in a defamation lawsuit Friday after reaching a settlement with the right-wing media organization. The broadcast then began a 15-minute countdown,before the RV exploded, according to The Tennessean. It also claims the AT&T building that was affected by the bomb is where those machines were being stored. the dominion voting system that was the subject of an enormous amount of controversy, is a dramatic improvement over prior forms of voting. John Bazemore/AP 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, read one post. 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. Fact check: Nashville bombing-Dominion Voting Systems link is a He also serves on 16 boards and commissions, on two of which he is the presiding member. Then, a plume of smoke rises behind three light poles. 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. Singer reportedly funded the original investigation Mike Lindell Says FBI Surrounded Him and Seized His Cellphone RUMOR ALERT: Dominion Voting Systems Fraud Claims That user did not respond to USA TODAY's request for comment, either. 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. 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. Vandoliers Play Tennessee Concert in Dresses to Protest State's New A Dominion spokeswoman said other company employees have also gone to more secure locations, been threatened and been digitally stalked. 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 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 ). The explosion injured three other people and damaged businesses in downtown Nashville, including an AT&T switching center, which resulted in widespread communications outages. 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. 4 Things to Know About Voting Machine Company That - The Daily Signal 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. Dominion Voting Systems, a voting machine manufacturer founded in Canada, made equipment that is used in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. Trump fumes at Rupert Murdoch over his bombshell Fox News Dominion Your membership is the foundation of our sustainability and resilience. Its true that an AT&T-owned building in Nashville was one of many buildings damaged in Fridays. ", 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.". 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.. The reason? "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.. 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). Even though it has a blue Nashville and a blue Memphis. "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?," one from Dec. 26 reads. Staple Street Capital has a managing director and co-founder named Stephen Owens. 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. As of Friday, a motive in the bombing remained under investigation by the FBI, the ATF and Metro Nashville police. Does Joe Biden's family own Dominion Voting Systems? Nope Speaker 13 . Dominion representatives havealsodenouncedthe conspiracy theory, calling it another "bizarre lie" with "zero credibility.".