Technology

FACT CHECK: Was AT&T Awarded A Contract To Audit Dominion Voting Systems Machines?

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Social media posts claim AT&T received a contract to conduct an audit of voting machines from the election technology firm Dominion Voting Systems.

AT&T got a contract to do forensic audit on Dominion voting machines and those machines were being moved to Nashville this past week.

— The TRUMP PAGE ???????? ???? (@MichaelDeLauzon) December 28, 2020

Verdict: False

AT&T did not receive a contract to audit Dominion Voting Systems machines, according to spokespeople from the two companies.

Fact Check:

Dominion Voting Systems has been the subject of baseless conspiracy theories since the 2020 presidential election. (RELATED: Does Joe Biden’s Brother-In-Law Own Dominion Voting Systems?)

Facebook and Twitter users are now attempting to link the bombing that rocked Nashville early Christmas morning to the election technology firm’s voting machines. The blast, which injured several people and damaged numerous downtown Nashville businesses, came from an RV parked near an AT&T transmission building on Second Avenue, local news station WKRN reported.

One such Twitter account alleged, “AT&T got a contract to do forensic audit on Dominion voting machines and those machines were being moved to Nashville this past week,” while a Facebook user wrote, “AT&T was awarded a contract to audit Dominion voting machines. Guess what building the RV was parked in front of yesterday in Nashville… #GetReady.”

There is, however, no indication AT&T got a contract to audit Dominion Voting System machines. The Daily Caller News Foundation didn’t find any national or local media reports about AT&T being awarded such a contract. Representatives from the companies have also refuted the viral claim.

“This is not true,” said Jim Greer, assistant vice president of corporate communications at AT&T, in an email to the DCNF.

“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 Voting Systems told the DCNF via email. “Americans should continue to seek information from verifiable, trusted sources, such as law enforcement authorities.”

Don Cochran, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, identified 63-year-old Anthony Q. Warner as the lone suspected individual behind the Nashville bombing on Christmas morning, The Tennessean reported. Warner was “present when the bomb went off, and he perished in the bombing,” Cochran said, according to the outlet.

Federal, state and local law enforcement officials so far have not announced the motive behind the bombing, but there is currently no indication it was related to Dominion Voting Systems. Some media reports have suggested investigators are looking into whether Warner had paranoia about 5G, a type of mobile network that is often the subject of online conspiracy theories and misinformation.