In response to a query from an attorney for
the plaintiffs, Belinfante wrote in a June
27 email obtained by Media that “while a
subpoena was contemplated by prior counsel,
it was never sent.”
In a statement, Georgia’s deputy secretary
of state, Jordan Fuchs, called any accusation
that her office has not complied with a
court order “completely false,” but refused
further comment.
The FBI data could reveal whether hackers
tampered with elections in Georgia because
the server in question had a gaping security
hole that went unpatched for more than six
months before being publicly exposed. Data
on the server included passwords used
by county officials to access elections
management files.
Technicians at the Center for Elections Systems
at Kennesaw State University, which then ran
the state’s election system, erased the server’s
data on July 7, 2017, less than a week after
the voting integrity suit was filed. After the AP
reported on it three months later, Kemp denied
ordering the data destruction or knowing
about it in advance and called it reckless,
inexcusable and inept.
But the FBI had a forensic backup, which it
made in March 2017 when it investigated the
security hole. The FBI has not responded to
repeated requests by the AP to confirm that
it continues to possess the data. FBI Atlanta
spokeswoman Jenna Sellitto wouldn’t say
whether the FBI has examined the data on that
image to determine whether any tampering or
other malicious activity occurred.
Image: Alan Diaz