A newly obtained report produced by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations reveals new details about a scheme by Donald Trump's allies to copy election software and distribute it to conspiracy theorists to overturn the state's 2020 election results.
The 392-page report, obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, shows that Atlanta attorney Preston Haliburton, who said he was investigating alleged voter fraud, asked Coffee County elections supervisor Misty Hampton in December 2020 for copies of absentee ballots cast in the presidential election.
“I do not see any problem assisting you with anything y’all need (in) accordance to Georgia law," Hampton said, according to the GBI report. "Y’all are welcome in our office anytime."
Hampton's response was understood as a "written invitation” for computer analysts who were paid by Trump lawyer Sidney Powell's nonprofit organization to copy election data, according to investigators, and in January 2021 several technicians and election conspiracists traveled to Coffee County to copy the files, including software for Georgia’s statewide Dominion voting equipment.
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
Analysts from the forensics firm SullivanStrickler then made copies of the data, and another Trump attorney celebrated the development in a text message sent to those analysts.
“Huge things starting to come together!" said Trump attorney Katherine Friess, according to the GBI report. "Most immediately, we were just granted access – by written invitation! — to the Coffee County systems. Yay!”
Hampton was among 19 individuals, including Trump himself, indicted on racketeering charges in connection with the election subversion scheme, and Powell is among four co-defendants who have already pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with investigators.
