Trump blasts ‘phoney’ Georgia DA after report prosecutors have texts, emails linking him to voting system breach
Georgia prosecutors investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 electi🐠on results in the Peach State reportedly possess communications tying members of his legal team to a Jan. 7, 2021, breach of voting systems in rural Coffee County.
The communications showcase a top-down push from Trump allies to access sensitive equipment and indicate that members of the 77-year-old’s legal team, such as former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, were connected to Sullivan Strickler, a firm hired by Sidney Powell to investigate purported irregularities in the county, to CNN.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s team began unfurling evidence from her 2020 election probe to a grand jury Monday, and those messages were expected to buttress her case.
“Just landed back in DC with the Mayor huge things starting to come together! Most immediately, we were just granted access — by written invitation! — to C𒀰offee County’s systems. Yay!” 💎reads a Jan. 1, 2021 text message in a group chat of colleagues from Sullivan Strickler, .
Trump’s then-lawyer, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, was referred to as “the Mayor” in other messages sent by the same group, the𓂃 outlet said.
The letter of invitation was supposedly penned by Misty Hampton, a former Coffee County elections official who first piqued the interest of Trump’s allies in the days after the election when she incorrectly claime🍒d during a state election board meeting that Dominion voting machines could “very easily” flip votes from one candidate to another.
Shortly after Hampton’s warning about voting machines, a Trump campaign official emailed Hampton and asked to “obtain as much information as possible” about the voting situation in the county, which Trump won by 70%, CNN said.
In early December, Hampton delayed the certification of Biden’s win in the Peach Stat꧟e by refusing to recount results by the deadline.
A video Hampton made purportedly alerting the public to issues with the county’s voting machines ღwas al𒐪so used by Giuliani and Trump’s other lawyers in their push to convince other state legislators that the 2020 election results were marred by voter fraud.
Coffee County was name dropped in a draft of executive orders to seize voting ma🙈chines that was presented to Trump at an Oval Office meeting on Dec. 18, 2020, according to the article.
At the time, Giuliani also allegedly hinted at plans to gain “voluntary access” to Georgꦐia voting machines, he and others previously testified before the House Jan. 6 committee.
A few days after the pivotal Oval Office meeting, CNN explained, Hampไton sha♏red the written invitation to access Coffee County’s election office with the Trump team.
Katherine Freiss, another attorney working with Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and other Trump confidantes, reportedly distribute♕d the invitation to a group of Trump allies on Jan. 1, 2021 – just a few days before the br🤪each.
🌄That same day, Freiss also reportedly sent the invite to disgraced former NYPD Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik, who had teamed up with his former boss Giuliani to back up their claims of voter fraud.
Hampton and elections official Cathy Latham then allegedly helped Trump’s team access the Coffee County voting system, the messages reviewed by the outlet indicaꦰted.
Latham, in particular, has come under fire for 🔥surveillance footage that purportedly shows her allowing unauthorized visitors to access the voting systems.
Georgia election law dictates that “the room in which the election management system is located shall be locked at all times when the system is not directly under the supervision of the election superintendent or his or her designee. Lock and key access to the room where the election management system is located shall be limited to the county election superintendent; the election supervisor, if any; personnel of the county election superintendent’s office designated by the county election superintendent; building maintenance personnel; and emergency personnel” with the latter two only allowed access as necessary.
Willis’s probe of the 2020 election in the Peach state was sparked by Trump’s January 2021 call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — in which Trump emphasized the need to “find, uh, 11,780 votes” — and a plot to put forward fake electors, the Coffee County breach and those tied to it.
Trump on Sunday vehemently denied wrongdoing, again defending his call to Raffensperger as “perfect.” “I made a PERFECT PHONE CALL OF PROTEST. What does Phoney Fani have to do with me? She should instead focus on the record number of murders in Atlanta!” Trump .
He also again falsely claimed that the election was “rigged and stolen” and accused Willis of being a “publicity seeking D.A.” who “isn’t interested in Justice,” in Sunday morning.
The Fulton County probe could see the embattled former president slapped with racketeering and other charges in his fourth criminal indictment this year.
Trump was charged last month on four counts for&nbജsp;conspiracy and obstruction in connection with his alleged role in the riots at the US Capitol a day before the Coffee County voting systems breach.
He is also facing a 40-count indictment for alleged retention of classified documents following his White House departure, and a 34-count indictment out of Manhattan pertaining to alleged hush money payment෴s.
Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat previously confirmed that the real estate mogul would need to follow “normal practices” — including a mug shot — if indicted.
Willis’ office could not be immediately reached for a comment.
Additional reporting by Ryan King
