Debunking Charlie Kirk on Dominion Voting Software
The election for president in 2020 has come to a certain conclusion: Trump lost, Biden won, and by large margins in national vote and electoral college.
But Trump sycophant Charlie Kirk, founder and president of Turning Point USA, has continued to spread misinformation about voter fraud and voter machines used in the election.
Some of his platforms have aided this more than others. Facebook has covered one of his videos about Dominion voting systems with a link to a fact check. But there is no accountability on his podcast and this is where he repeats many of those same lies.
I want to check as many Kirk claims as I can find about Dominion that come from his podcast Sunday Nov. 15 and the aforementioned Facebook video.
- Dominion voting systems received a very generous grant from the Clinton Foundation
Associated Press fact check Nov. 10: “Claims that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and the Clinton Foundation have interest or influence in Dominion are all unsubstantiated…. Dominion made a one-time philanthropic commitment at a Clinton Global Initiative meeting in 2014, but the Clinton Foundation has no stake or involvement in Dominion’s operations, the nonprofit confirmed to The Associated Press…. Dominion did donate between $25,001 and $50,000 to the Clinton Foundation in 2014, according to reporting by the Washington Post, but its lobbyists have also donated to Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.”
Snopes.com notes this claim was boasted by a QANON site: “For example, WeAreTheNe.ws, a website dedicated to the QAnon conspiracy theory, posted the following image under the caption: “CLINTON FOUNDATION HAS TIES TO THE DOMINION PROGRAM…”
2. Dominion changed 6,000 votes in Michigan
This is the lie that got Facebook to cover the video. It specifically linked to a fact check on this claim. But other media also debunked it:
The New York Times: “In the two Michigan counties that had mistakes, the inaccuracies were because of human errors, not software problems, according to the Michigan Department of State, county officials and election-security experts. Only one of the two Michigan counties used Dominion software.”
CNN: “Further undermining Trump’s claims was the fact that hours after his tweet, federal government agencies released a statement declaring that “the November 3rd election was the most secure in American history.” The statement said, “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”
3. Independent analysis shows this Michigan problem might have impacted other states
Hard to know exactly what Kirk is referring to here but he mentions “hammer” and “scorecard.”
From NewsGuard: “The Facts: There is no evidence that the “Hammer” computer system or the “Scorecard” software exist, were used to alter votes, or had any impact on the U.S. election. The director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) called claims about this topic “nonsense” in a Nov. 7, 2020, tweet. In October 2020, a website called The American Report published claims about the existence of “Hammer” and “Scorecard” and their planned use in the election, and claimed that an ex-contractor named Dennis Montgomery built the system, without specifying when. According to The Daily Beast, Montgomery is “a former intelligence contractor and self-proclaimed whistleblower” with “a long history of making outlandish claims.”
Kirk has a guest on his podcast — Air Force Lt. General Thomas McInerney — who made similar claims. [He was let go from Fox in 2018 for lying about John McCain.]
Here is a good fact check of the whole conspiracy about hammer and scorecard.
4. Dominion was turned down three times for certification in Texas
This was reported by a conservative “media” outlet that has had issues with accuracy. But the Texas Secretary of State does list the outcome for Dominion here. Kirk said the software had “major security issues.” That is not noted in the Texas SOS 3-page report which was about certain products. Texas uses other Dominion products in voting.
5. A raid in Germany on a software company linked to US election
This comes from a clip played by Kirk of Rep. Louie Gohmert, one of the most truth-adverse congressmen ever. Gohmert claimed a raid by the US Army confiscated servers connected to the election.
Associated Press: “Both the Army and Scytl told The Associated Press the claim is not true. Furthermore, Scytl does not have offices or servers in Frankfurt, Germany.”
6. Dominion has ties to Chinese Communist Party
This claim comes from a more recent Kirk Facebook video.
This claim seems to originate from Trump lawyer based in Georgia in a tweet on Nov. 12. Rudy Giuliani made similar claims on Nov. 15.
There is no evidence of this at all. Though Trump tweeted out a part of a Congressional hearing where Dominion official said its machines had parts in them that were made in China.
