Leaked text messages reveal that operatives for Donald Trump allegedly discussed using breached voter data in Georgia to overturn the 2020 presidential election, according to new a report.
Two men working for the former president in January 2021 also allegedly talked about the possibility of the data being used in an attempt to decertify the state’s pivotal Senate runoffs, according to CNN.
Republicans lost control of the US Senate to the Democrats when Jon Ossoff beat Republican David Perdue, which left the upper chamber of Congress tied at 50 votes each giving vice president Kamala Harris the vote to break all ties.
The news network reports that the messages were exchanged two weeks after the operatives allegedly breached the voting machine in Georgia’s Coffee County.
“Here’s the plan. Let’s keep this close hold,” wrote Jim Penrose, a former NSA official working with Trump lawyer Sidney Powell to access voting machines in Georgia, CNN reports.
The message was allegedly written on 19 January and sent to Doug Logan, the CEO of Cyber Ninjas, the company that led the Republican-demanded audit of 2020 presidential election ballots in Arizona.
In the text obtained by CNN, Mr Penrose also brings up the pending certification of Mr Ossoff’s victory.
“We only have until Saturday to decide if we are going to use this report to try to decertify the Senate run-off election or if we hold it for a bigger moment,” Mr Penrose allegedly wrote.
The scheme to breach voting machines in Coffee County, and the role of Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, are being investigated as part of a 2020 election probe by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Sources told CNN that her office is considering potential racketeering charges against multiple defendants in the case.
The breach of voting systems in Coffee County is also under investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
CNN says that Ms Powell, Mr Penrose and Mr Logan did not respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for Mr Giuliani told the network that they were declining comment.
