Surveillance video shows Georgia 'fake elector' escorting operatives into elections office before alleged data breach

Zoë Richards and Blayne Alexander and Charlie Gile
·2 min read
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Surveillance video shows Georgia 'fake elector' escorting operatives into elections office before alleged data breach
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Newly obtained video shows the former head of Coffee County Republicans escorting members of a forensics firm hired by a Trump-allied lawyer into a Georgia elections office shortly before an alleged data breach in January 2021.

The video, which was obtained by NBC News, shows Cathy Latham, the chairwoman of the Coffee County GOP at the time, greeting and escorting members of the tech firm SullivanStrickler into the office on Jan. 7, 2021, the same day as a data breach that is under investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The video shows scenes only from outside the office.

NBC News has asked Holly Pierson, an attorney for Latham, and SullivanStrickler for comment.

Cathy Latham, bottom, who was the chair of the Coffee County Republican Party at the time, greets a team of computer experts from the data solutions company SullivanStrickler at the county elections office in Douglas, Ga., on Jan. 7, 2021. (Coffee County via AP file)
Cathy Latham, bottom, who was the chair of the Coffee County Republican Party at the time, greets a team of computer experts from the data solutions company SullivanStrickler at the county elections office in Douglas, Ga., on Jan. 7, 2021. (Coffee County via AP file)

Latham was one of nearly a dozen of Georgia’s “fake electors” who sought to quash a subpoena to appear before the Fulton County special grand jury that is hearing evidence in a criminal probe into possible 2020 election interference by former President Donald Trump and his allies.

Latham was identified as a target of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ investigation after she submitted false certifications, along with 15 other people, declaring Trump the winner in Georgia after he lost to Joe Biden.

The Washington Post has reported that Trump-allied attorney Sidney Powell hired SullivanStrickler to copy information from voting equipment.

The GBI confirmed last month that it is assisting the Georgia secretary of state’s office with an investigation of an allegation of a breach of elections data in Coffee County, Willis said in a court filing last month. She added that publicly reported emails indicate Powell coordinated with SullivanStrickler to obtain elections data from Coffee County in early January 2021.

A representative for SullivanStrickler said in an email Wednesday that the "firm has recently been accused of being part of a team that illegally 'breached' servers or electronic equipment used to conduct the 2020 election. This accusation is categorically false."

“SullivanStrickler was retained by and took direction from licensed, practicing attorneys to preserve and forensically copy the Dominion Voting Machines used in the 2020 election,” the representative said. “The firm had no reason to believe that, as officers of the court, these attorneys would ask or direct SullivanStrickler to do anything either improper or illegal.”

Additional video taken outside the Coffee County elections office shows Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan and cybersecurity consultant Jeff Lenberg visiting a few times later in January 2021.

Cyber Ninjas, which Arizona Republicans hired to lead a partisan review of 2020 ballots in Maricopa County, found that Biden won the county by a greater margin than the official tally.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com