A Witch Hunt Backfires

By Brent E. Zepke, Esq.

When overreach backfires. Image credit: Northeastern University

My column, “A Witch Hunt Without End,” discussed the actions of a few characters in Georgia organizing a “Witch Hunt” to prevent former President Donald Trump from becoming the next president.

A second column on the subject – “A Witch Hunt gets Curiouser and Curiouser” – discussed some twists and turns, which I refer to as “peeling-the-onion,” when the Halderman Report documented a pronounced weakness of the Dominion BMD voting machines.

This third column in the Witch Hunt series discusses how the accusers’ (aka “the hunters”) overreach (a gentle way of saying “misuse their power”) backfired and turned the witch hunters into the accused: aka “the hunted.”

The field of combat was the one selected by the hunters: a courtroom.

Specifically, the courtroom of Federal Judge Amy Totenberg. The case was one filed in 2017, by Curling, et al, v. Georgia Secretary of State Raffensberger, et al, that challenged Raffensberger’s selection of the Dominion ImageCast X Ballot Marking Devices (BMDs) for the 2020 presidential election.

Curling’s attorneys began by calling Marie Francis Watson, the official responsible for investigating any allegations of voting fraud in the 2020 election. The following is this author’s synopsis of the trial transcript pages 6-106. 

Marie Watson’s testimony brought memories Jack Dawkins, aka the “Artful Dodger, the Charles Dickens character in his novel Oliver Twist, as Ms. Watson responded to question after question with “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember,” only to have her recollection “refreshed” by her own documents, the testimony of others, and even videos.

It was a bit of a strain to believe that she could remember so little about a matter as important as that election, and her investigation over the next year. Her using more “dodges” than a dodge ball player did amuse the trial lawyers, but also contributed to questioning her credibility. 

The Dominion Voting Machines

The attorney ultimately established through evidence, and her admissions, that in the 2020 election in Coffee County, Georgia, the following violated standard procedures:

1) The doors to the voting machines were left open and were not secured by zip ties with serial numbers, as should have been required;

2) three of the six voting machines were missing security seals;

3) the pads were not charged;

4) the printers did not have paper;

While none of these prove the votes were tampered with, that they had conveniently occurred at all strengthens the circumstantial evidence that seems to defy coincidence.

When Ms. Watson finally spent a few hours visiting the BMDs in Coffee County, she denied seeing a representative of the company Cyber Ninja there… until a video “refreshed” her recollection. The attorney then established that Cyber Ninja did not have a contract with Coffee County, meaning they had no business having access to the BMD, prompting the question of who was given that access, and why.

The second witness was the author of the Halderman report, Alex Halderman. The following is a synopsis of the trial transcript pages 107-224. 

As discussed previously, Halderman borrowed a Bic pen and within seven seconds gained access to the controls of the Dominion BMD. 

Halderman testified that “Smart” cards could be purchased for $10 online and with a $30 USB Smart card reader purchased from Amazon, could program their own voter cards that could be used over-and-over again county-wide. 

It remains an open question of how many, if any, of these cards there were, and how many it would take to switch the necessary 5,890 votes.

President Trump and 18 others (Trump 19), without the benefit of the Halderman Report, or the details from Coffee County, attempted to ascertain the accurate results of the election. Those actions led to the Fulton County DA Fani Willis, in conciliation with the White House, to hire special prosecutor Nathan Wade to charge the Trump 19 with conspiracy and RICO. 

Fani Willis’s Testimony

Michael Roman, aka “Number 18” of the Trump 19 filing, caused Willis to have to testify under oath about her activities.

Wade’s wife established in an evidentiary hearing for her divorce case, that her husband, Nathan, had not only paid for but had also accompanied Willis on elaborate romantic vacations.

The evidence from that hearing, plus the evidence from the Curling trial, caused the Republican Governor Brian Kemp and Republican legislature to authorize an investigation into the possible malfeasance of the prosecutors.

The Witch Hunt backfired, as “the hunters” apparent malfeasance caused them to become “the hunted.”

The Georgia legislature voted to investigate Raffensberger, which could result in criminal charges and possible removal from office.

The night before having to testify under oath, Wade settled with his wife in her divorce case. 

Willis responded in church that “You can’t expect a Black woman to be perfect.”

Investigation of Rogue Prosecutors

A complaint has been filed challenging Willis’s and Wade’s – who billed for every hour in a 24-hour day – ability to keep their law licenses. 

The Republicans in that legislature passed a bill authorizing the investigations, and possible removal from office, of “rogue prosecutors.”

A congressional committee in the U.S. House has issued a subpoena to Willis. 

Through these responses, the Republicans are indicating their frustrations with many aspects of the 2020 election and intend to prevent their happening again.

Watson has changed departments but remains employed by the state of Georgia.

Judge Totenberg, born in 1950, continues as a senior Judge. 

What is yet to be determined is what – if anything – are the other states that used the Dominion BMDs in the 2020 election doing to ensure the 2024 election will be a fair one.