Tommy Tuberville says GA indictments of Donald Trump are “pure politics”
Late Monday night, a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, returned indictments against former President Donald Trump and 18 of his advisors, team members, and affiliates. On Tuesday, Alabama Today requested comment from U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama). Tuberville’s staff said that a comment would be forthcoming. Tuberville shared the statement with Alabama Today and on Twitter. Tuberville was the first Senator to endorse Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and has for years been a vocal supporter of the former president. Tuberville recently introduced Trump at an Alabama Republican Party event in Montgomery. “Another day, another activist indictment of Biden’s top political opponent,” Sen. Tuberville said. “The fact that the radical Fulton County DA ‘accidentally’ published the indictment before the grand jury finished voting proves what we already know — this is pure politics.” “Where I come from, you beat your opponents by winning fair and square,” Tuberville continued. “This witch hunt has gone on for long enough. Democrats are afraid of President Trump because they know he will expose their corruption. The American people deserve an equal justice system — not one that twists the law to fit their politics.” The former President was indicted on 13 charges ranging from making false statements and impersonating a public officer to conspiracy and racketeering – a charge generally reserved for organized crime. This is the fourth round of indictments that the former President has received. The Fulton County DA, Fani Willis, is a Democrat and a noted Joe Biden ally. She claimed that Trump and the other eighteen defendants were trying “to accomplish the illegal goal” of keeping Trump in office. The alleged conspirators are being prosecuted under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, which is usually reserved for organized crime figures like mafia or drug cartel members. Also indicted were former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Trump attorney John Eastman, Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro, Trump attorney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Trump attorney Jenna Ellis, Trump’s Georgia legal team member Ray Smith, staffer Jeffrey Clark, attorney Robert Cheeley, Trump’s director of Election Day operations Michael Roman, staffer Stephen Lee, a leader of Black Voices for Trump Harrison Floyd, Kanye West’s former publicist Trevian Kutti, Trump “fake” elector and former Georgia Republican Party Finance Chair and State Senator Shawn Still, Trump “fake” elector Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer, Sidney Powell – an attorney allied with Trump, “fake” elector retired teacher and the Chairwoman of the Coffee County Republican Party, Cathy Latham, and Coffee County election supervisor Misty Hampton (she also allegedly posted a viral video claiming Dominion Voting System machines could be manipulated), and bail bondsman Scott Hall. Trump maintains that he did nothing wrong and that Fulton County is simply using the legal process to cover up a flawed election. They maintain that criticizing the results of a disputed election and alleging election fraud is constitutionally protected free speech. Tuberville’s charge that the indictments against former President Trump are a witch hunt mirrors Republican congressmen’s claims that the Democrats’ two impeachment charges against Trump, as well as the Steele dossier allegations against then-candidate Trump in 2016, were a witch hunt. Despite the growing legal maelstrom around Trump, he remains the frontrunner in the Republican presidential primary field for 2024. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Video fills in details on alleged Georgia election system breach
Two months after the 2020 presidential election, a team of computer experts traveled to south Georgia to copy software and data from voting equipment in an apparent breach of a county election system. They were greeted outside by the head of the local Republican Party, who was involved in efforts by then-President Donald Trump to overturn his election loss. A security camera outside the elections office in rural Coffee County captured their arrival. The footage also shows that some local election officials were at the office during what the Georgia secretary of state’s office has described as “alleged unauthorized access” of election equipment. Security footage from two weeks later raises additional alarms — showing two people who were instrumental in Trump’s wider efforts to undermine the election results entering the office and staying for hours. The security video from the elections office in the county about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta offers a glimpse of the lengths Trump’s allies went in service of his fraudulent election claims. It further shows how access allegedly was facilitated by local officials entrusted with protecting the security of elections while raising concerns about sensitive voting technology being released into the public domain. Georgia wasn’t the only state where voting equipment was accessed after the 2020 presidential election. Important information about voting systems also was compromised in election offices in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Colorado. Election security experts worry the information obtained — including complete copies of hard drives — could be exploited by those who want to interfere with future elections. “The system is only as secure as the people who are entrusted to keep it secure,” said lawyer David Cross, who represents plaintiffs in a long-running lawsuit over Georgia’s voting machines. The Coffee County security footage was obtained through that lawsuit, which alleges that Georgia’s touchscreen voting machines are vulnerable to attack and should be replaced by hand-marked paper ballots. The suit long predates and is unrelated to false allegations of widespread election fraud pushed by Trump and his allies after the 2020 election. The alleged breach in Coffee County’s elections office also has caught the attention of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is overseeing an investigation into whether Trump and his allies illegally tried to influence the 2020 election results in Georgia. Last month, Willis cited the Coffee County activity, among other things, when she sought to compel testimony from Sidney Powell, an attorney who was deeply involved in Trump’s effort to undo the election results. Emails and other records show Powell and other attorneys linked to Trump helped arrange for a team from data solutions company SullivanStrickler to travel to Coffee County, which Trump won by nearly 40 percentage points. The surveillance video, emails, and other documents that shed light on what happened there in January 2021 were produced in response to subpoenas issued in the voting machine lawsuit and were obtained by The Associated Press. Parts of the security video appear to contradict claims by some of the local officials: — Footage captures Cathy Latham, then chair of the Coffee County Republican Party, arriving at the elections office shortly after 11:30 a.m. on January 7, 2021, the day after the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol. Just a few weeks earlier, she was one of 16 Georgia Republicans who signed a certificate falsely stating that Trump had won the state and declaring that they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors. A few minutes after her arrival, she is seen outside greeting SullivanStrickler Chief Operating Officer Paul Maggio and two other people. Less than 10 minutes later, she escorts two other men into the building. The video shows her leaving the elections office just before 1:30 p.m., roughly two hours after she greeted the SullivanStrickler team. She returns a little before 4 p.m. and then leaves around 6:15 p.m. Latham said under oath during a deposition in August that she stopped by the elections office that evening for “Just a few minutes” and left before 5 p.m. Pressed on whether she had been there earlier in the day, Latham said she couldn’t recall but suggested her schedule as a teacher would not have allowed it. A lawyer for SullivanStrickler said in an email attached to a court filing that Latham was a “primary point of contact” in coordinating the company’s work and “was on site” while that work was done. Robert Cheeley, a lawyer for Latham, said in an emailed statement that his client doesn’t remember all the details of that day. But he said she “would not and has not knowingly been involved in any impropriety in any election” and “has not acted improperly or illegally.” — The video also shows Eric Chaney, a member of Coffee County’s election board, arriving shortly before 11 a.m. the same day and going in and out several times before leaving for the night around 7:40 p.m. Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the voting machine lawsuit wrote in a court filing that a photo produced by SullivanStrickler’s COO shows Chaney in the office as the copying is happening. During a deposition last month, Chaney declined to answer many questions about that day, citing the Fifth Amendment. But when an attorney representing the county reached out to him in April regarding questions from The Washington Post, Chaney wrote, “I am not aware of nor was I present at the Coffee County Board of Elections and Registration’s office when anyone illegally accessed the server or the room in which it is contained.” Chaney resigned from the elections board last month, days before his deposition. Attempts to reach Chaney by phone were unsuccessful, and his lawyer did not respond to an email seeking comment. — About two weeks after the initial breach, video shows Misty Hampton — then the county elections director — arriving at the elections office at 4:20 p.m. on January 18, when it was closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. She unlocked the door and let in two men — Doug Logan and Jeff Lenberg, who have been active in efforts to challenge
