DNA from human remains found at the scene matched Warner, and investigators found financial records for components that he may have used to construct the bomb. And then run the ballots through the machine a few times. 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. Posts include debunked conspiracy claims attempting to tie the Nashville explosion Dominion voting systems. Claims that two buildings that were destroyed on Christmas Day were both holding evidence related to the 2020 U.S. presidential election are untrue. Americans should continue to seek information from verifiable, trusted sources, such as law enforcement authorities, Dominion Voting Systems added. 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. On January 8, it filed a defamation suit against pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell, seeking $1.3 billion in damages. And we knew that wasn't true. 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. No one is currently working out of the building. And thats not what were about. The FBI confirmed that a man named Anthony Warner was responsible for the bombing and was killed in the blast. 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. The post implies that the bombing was an attempt to stop the audit and cover up voter fraud. A Dominion spokeswoman said other company employees have also gone to more secure locations, been threatened and been digitally stalked. Similar claims have already been debunked by Reuters (here). It was an assurance designed to bolster public confidence in the way America votes: Voting machines are not connected to the internet.. DNA found at the scene matched Warner's, according to an FBI press release. This screengrab is being shared on social media without that context. (Read more about ourpartnership with Facebook.). It also claims the AT&T building that was affected by the bomb is where those machines were being stored. Modems in voting machines are a bad idea, said Appel. ", 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.". "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. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Spokespersons for both Dominion Voting Systems and AT&T told Reuters by email that claims that Dominion voting machines related to the election were held in the building were untrue. Its true that an AT&T-owned building in Nashville was one of many buildings damaged in Fridays. 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. Warner died in the blast, according to authorities. 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. AT&T not conducting voting machine audit near Nashville explosion site. It is true Kennard serves on the board of Staple Street Capital (not Staple Street execs as the posts say). ES&S confirmed they had sold scanners with wireless modems to at least 11 states. Dominion Voting Systems, Inc. provides voting machines and tabulators. A sample ballot is shown via the Dominion Voting Systems that Georgians use to vote. 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. Dominion Voting Systems previously sent OAN letters threatening to sue, accusing the network of spreading the unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that the election-technology company manipulated. A spokesperson for the FBI's Denver Field Office confirmed that the FBI executed the . All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. He also serves on 16 boards and commissions, on two of which he is the presiding member. ", More:Three firefighters hurt battling three-alarm blaze in Rochester. ( here and here ). 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. There are currently two voting systems which are certified by the State of Florida's Division of Elections. Thank you for supporting our journalism. 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. 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. On Nov. 21, a group protested in front of Dominion's Denver headquarters, waving American flags and signs saying "fraud equals arrests." All of these businesses were reported to be damaged in the blast (here). Since the 2016 election, Michigan authorized $82 million dollars to upgrade its election systems. Both companies have denied the posts claims, saying that there was no such audit and that Dominions machines were not recently transported to Nashville. Texas country-punk band Vandoliers are standing in solidarity with drag performers and the LGBTQ+ community. A Dec. 14 Facebook video, viewed more than 23,000 times, claimed in its caption that "Trump WON The Election NEW Evidence Shows" because "a forensics report done on Dominion voting machines . More on Dominion:Fact check: Viral photo shows fake logo and slogan for Dominion Voting Systems. Its disgusting. The RV was parked on Second Avenue in Nashville, outside an AT&Ttransmission building, among other businesses and residences. The explosion injured three other people and damaged businesses in downtown Nashville, including an AT&T switching center, which resulted in widespread communications outages. Joe Bidens Brother in Law, Steven Owens, is the cofounder of Staple Street Execs along with William Kennard (mentioned above).. 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. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. All rights reserved. Before starting Staple Street Capital, Yaghoobzadeh worked as a senior vice president for private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. 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 ). hide caption. 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. There is no evidence that suggests that the explosion was election-related. 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. Recently, however, there are signs that elections companies, like some election officials, are pushing back against the false accusations. The explosion injured three people and damaged several businesses, including the AT&T Building. 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. In 2006, Cerberus Capital acquired it, according to a 2006 News Channel 5 Nashville report. The broadcast then began a 15-minute countdown,before the RV exploded, according to The Tennessean. He was present when the bomb went off, and he perished in the bombing," Cochran said. "You may want to read a book some day to learn about my reference to rising like a #phoenix. Heres more information on Facebooks fact-checking program: https://www.facebook.com/help/1952307158131536. "I've been threatened more times than I could even count. 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 . Much of the voting equipment was by 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. There is no evidence that suggests that the explosion was election-related. 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. The wishes are that I forever have to look over my shoulder," Coomer said. Across the country on Christmas Eve, a printing press company in New York burned to the ground. Other posts on social media have gone a step further, alleging that Dominion is tied to the bombing through ownership of the affected AT&T building. Similar claims have been shared in hundreds of public posts, according to CrowdTangle, a social media insights tool. The services and oversight found in the Secretary of State's office reach every department and agency in state government. More:Fact check: No, Joe Biden's brother-in-law does not own Dominion Voting Systems. 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. 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. "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. 27postsays. Last week, Dominion filed its fourth defamation lawsuit, this one a $1.6 billion whopper charging that Fox News spread the bogus conspiracy claim in order to boost ratings that plummeted after. 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. "Bombing investigations can take years," Darrell DeBusk, an FBI spokesman based inTennessee, told The Tennessean. 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. Kevin Monahan is a producer for the NBC News Investigative Unit. Videos from law enforcement officials and local businesses show that the explosion occurred on 2nd Avenue North in downtown Nashville. It is no longer federally certified. The bomb was located in a recreational vehicle that Warner owned. For Coomer, that means his life may be forever changed. 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. The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies. Hismotive is unknown. Tre Hargett was elected by the Tennessee General Assembly to serve as Tennessees 37th secretary of state in 2009 and re-elected in 2013, 2017, and 2021. MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has promised for months since the 2020 election that he had obtained Dominion, Smartmatic and ES&S voting machines, and they would be on full. The Christmas morning bomb went off on Second Avenue, outside an AT&T transmission building. 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. Singer reportedly funded the original investigation Thank you for supporting our journalism. Skoglund and his team developed a tool that scoured the internet to see if the central computers that program voting machines and run the entire election process at the precinct level were online. Read more about our fact-checking workhere . 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. . This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. These claims are groundless. The bomber was lateridentified by U.S. Attorney Don Cochranas Anthony Warner, 63, according to The Tennessean. There is a bomb. Dominion Voting Systems CEO John Poulos is not ruling out legal action against President Trump, whose surrogates have spent nearly two months alleging the Nov. 3 election, which Trump lost, may . Select an Infowars smear of Dominion Voting Systems. 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. Skoglund says those include the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida. The machines America votes on seem to be capturing the interest of some in Congress. On Christmas Day, an RV in Nashville, Tennessee, exploded, severelydamaging many of the buildings around it in the explosion. Copyright 2023 Politifact. Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com.