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Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Computer experts working at the direction of lawyers supporting then-President Donald Trump and his conspiracy theories that the 2020 general election was stolen from him copied a trove of sensitive data from Georgia election systems, according to reports. Documents and other records seen by The Washington Post and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution confirm for the first time that election data was copied from the state.
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Procured through subpoenas, the documents state that Trump-aligned attorney Sidney Powell was behind the effort, and was billed $26,000 for hiring computer experts from an Atlanta-based company SullivanStrickler to obtain the election data.
The group of computer experts had copied the files in Coffee County on Jan. 7, 2021, after being given access to the Dominion voting systems by an employee. The Georgia Bureau of Investigations has confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the incident is under investigation.
The documents were produced on Friday via subpoenas filed by plaintiffs in a case concerning the state's voting systems.
Dominion, a Denver-based company, supplied voting machines for the election and has seen been thrust into the center of a conspiracy theories peddled by the former president and his supporters that it helped rig the election for Joe Biden.
Powell has been one of the former Trump lawyers who supported the claims and following the election attempted to force judges in Georgia and Michigan through litigation to certify that Trump had won their electoral votes.
In her lawsuits, she cited as proof widely debunked conspiracy theories that the machines produced by Dominion Voting Systems were used to manipulate the votes in Biden's favor.
In response, Dominion has filed defamation suits against Powell and Trump-aligned attorney Rudy Giuliani, among others, as well as Fox News and Newsmax for broadcasting and amplifying their claims.
The documents produced by subpoenas state the computer experts had help from local officials, some of whom are known to have aided in Trump's attempt to overturn the election results in the state.
"Rogue election officials will not be tolerated in Georgia," a statement from the office of Georgia's secretary of state said. "Prior to this latest disclosure, the Georgia secretary of state's office and the State Election Board had already looped in appropriate authorities, including criminal law enforcement agencies, to assist in the investigation into the alleged unlawful access in Coffee County.
"That investigation continues, and any wrongdoers should be prosecuted."
