Footage Offers Clues to Breach at Ga. Elections Office

Computer experts who allegedly copied sensitive software and data from voting equipment following the 2020 election spent hours at an elections office in rural Georgia on Jan. 7, 2021—the day after the Capitol insurrection—where they were greeted by the then-head of the local Republican party. Footage reviewed by news outlets including the AP and Washington Post shows Cathy Latham greeting a group of data forensics experts allegedly hired by pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell to investigate claims of election fraud at the Coffee County elections office shortly before noon on the day of the alleged breach, which is the subject of an investigation by the Georgia secretary of state's office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The team from data forensics company SullivanStrickler described Latham as a "primary point of contact" who "was on site" for its work. But in sworn testimony, Latham—one of 16 Georgia Republicans who signed a certificate falsely claiming Trump won the state—said she visited the elections office for "just a few minutes" on the evening of Jan. 7 and couldn't remember visiting earlier in the day. The footage shows she arrived shortly after 11:30am, left just before 1:30pm, returned before 4pm, then departed around 6:15pm. Her lawyer says in a statement that she "would not and has not knowingly been involved in any impropriety in any election" and "has not acted improperly or illegally." The SullivanStrickler team exited at 7:43pm, followed by Misty Hampton, then the county elections supervisor.

Hampton, who echoed Trump's claims on the election, noting it "was not done true and correct," was also present two weeks later when two technology consultants who were looking for evidence that would overturn Trump's loss visited the office, staying for hours, per the AP. Doug Logan and Jeffrey Lenberg, now under investigation for breaching voting machines in Michigan, spent most of the next day at the office. Lenberg returned five more times. A special grand jury in Fulton County has issued a subpoena seeking all documents between SullivanStrickler and Sidney Powell or Lin Wood, another pro-Trump lawyer, by Sept. 15, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Per the AP, election security experts fear the data obtained "could be exploited by those who want to interfere with future elections." (More Georgia stories.)