Video from surveillance cameras in Coffee County, Georgia, shows two members of a firm hired by Donald Trump’s attorneys, along with the head of the county Republican Party, entering an election office where voting machines were breached. At least two of those involved are also being investigated for reportedly breaching multiple voting machines in Michigan.
As The Washington Post reports, “election technology experts” Doug Logan and Jeffrey Lenberg can be seen on the camera making two visits to the office, which is located 200 miles south of Atlanta. Then Lenberg makes another five solo appearances at the office. Lenberg and Logan work for the Atlanta-based firm SullivanStrickler, which was hired by Sidney Powell to obtain data from voting machines in Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada. They reportedly copied both software and data from the voting machines.
Cathy Latham, chair of the Coffee County Republican Party, can be seen in the video meeting Lenberg and Logan. Latham was one of 16 false electors for Trump who signed a certificate falsely claiming Trump had won the state of Georgia as part of the Jan. 6 conspiracy. She also provided sworn testimony that she taught a full day of classes on the day video shows her meeting the SullivanStrickler at noon. But that seems to be the smallest of the crimes committed here.
Campaign Action
Back on August 15, the Post reported on how Powell had hired the SullivanStrickler team, and how that team appears to have illegally obtained data from voting machines in at least three states. Powell sent the team to “copy a rural county’s election data” in Michigan, then repeated this in Detroit. Another Trump attorney then dispatched SullivanStrickler to copy a voting system machine in Nevada. They also appeared in court testimony in Michigan as “expert witnesses” on voting machines. In Michigan, a criminal investigation has been opened to deal with breaches of voting machines.
All that was before the copying of the machine in Coffee County, GA, which continued until at least Jan. 7, 2021—the day after Trump supporters swarmed the Capitol.
Reporting on this story, Rebekah Sager noted that a subpoena sought by the group Coalition for Good Governance, directly cited the involvement of local officials, as well as the scale of the security violation.
The subpoena also reveals that local Coffee County election officials assisted the Trump supporters in copying the voter information, including memory cards, ballot scanners, ballot images, and an election management server.
In two other locations, SullivanStrickler was reportedly given permission by the court to copy and review voting data. However, that wasn’t the case in Coffee County. Also, no court has authorized the Trump-paid experts to copy the actual software from the voting systems. The details of exactly what SullivanStrickler did in each state remain unknown.
The software copied by Lemberg and Logan could be extremely valuable to hackers seeking to actually control and alter the results of voting. More than that, the level of access they obtained shows how election results really could be altered if local officials are complicit in providing access to voting machines. With Republicans voting in election officials across the nation who are supporters of the Big Lie, this is a threat that is growing rapidly.
So far, Georgia officials appear to be downplaying any risk associated with the actions and it’s not clear there is a criminal investigation underway. However, in addition to the lawsuit from Coalition for Good Governance and others, more civil suits seem likely. Dominion has already launched billion-dollar lawsuits against those making false claims about the reliability of their system, the origin of their software, and their secret alliance with dead Venezuelan dictators (among other things). It seems probable that they will take action against companies and individuals directly involved in tampering with their machines and stealing their intellectual property.
An attorney for Latham denies that she was involved in any scheme to copy the data and software, saying that she “did not authorize or participate in any ballot scanning efforts, computer imaging or any similar activity in Coffee County in January 2021.” But considering that Latham is seen welcoming in two men who have come there for no other purpose, and that she lied about her participation in sworn testimony, it’s difficult to believe she wasn’t fully aware of what was happening.
While Latham denies going to meet the two men, records filed by an attorney for Sullivan Strickler describe Latham as the “primary point of contact in coordinating and facilitating” the work in Coffee County.
While Republicans try to overturn elections and make it harder to vote, volunteer to help save democracy by encouraging people to cast their ballots. Click here to view hundreds of local and national Get Out the Vote opportunities on the Daily Kos Mobilize feed, and sign up to volunteer on a national campaign or one near you.
