Did the AT&T data center in Nashville, Tennessee, damaged by a Christmas morning bomb have a contract to audit Dominion voting machines? No, that's not true: An AT&T spokesman confirmed to Lead Stories via email there is no such contract. We've also been unable to find any documentation that any company has a contract to audit voting machines.
The claim appeared in many social media posts, including a meme in a post (archived here) shared on Facebook on December 26, 2020. It read:
WAIT, THE BOMBING IN NASHVILLE WAS AT THE AT&T DATA CENTER RIGHT AFTER THEY GOT THE CONTRACT TO AUDIT THE DOMINION VOTING MACHINES?THAT'S AN INTERESTING COINCIDENCE
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Sun Dec 27 21:58:47 2020 UTC)
Another viral Facebook post included a screenshot that referenced a "rumor" of such a contract:
https://twitter.com/aTimeQ/status/1342625040517509125?s=19
Posted by John Pope on Friday, December 25, 2020
Lead Stories reached out to AT&T corporate spokesman Jim Greer for verification if the claim of a contract was true. He replied in an email to Lead Stories:
I've confirmed this is not true.
The FBI said the man believed responsible for the bombing -- Anthony Quinn Warner -- died in the attack. While they have not announced a suspected motive, reports said investigators were questioning those who knew the 63-year-old Antioch, Tennessee, man about his belief in conspiracy theories about 5G wireless technology, which AT&T has deployed.
