A voting machine company unjustifiably accused by President Trump and pro-Trump conspiracy theorists of illegally including the 2020 presidential contest is working with one of Washington, DC’s leading public relations firms, to counter the accusations.
Shortly after the election, Dominion Voting Systems hired Hamilton Place Strategies to coordinate a public relations campaign that would respond to the extravagant demands of the president, his legal team and his supporters, according to Michael Steel, a partner at HPS and former House spokesman. Speaker John Boehner.
Steel has given media interviews in the weeks following the withdrawal of allegations against the company, including that its software “changed” votes in key states from President Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden. “It’s not physically possible for our machines to change votes from one candidate to another,” Steel told Fox News in an interview last month.
Other senior HPS employees have also used their platforms to back such claims. “None of this is true about Dominion voting machines, not a single word. None of that ” he tweeted Tony Fratto, HPS partner and former spokesman for George W. Bush, earlier this month.
Dominion’s hiring of HPS is just one aspect of its campaign to backtrack on attacks on the company, which have included false allegations of links to the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and alleged efforts to process contracts without a bid for the company. company in Georgia. The company says these attacks have posed threats to the physical security of its employees. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Dominion’s security director has been in hiding for more than a month.
On Wednesday, Dominion’s lawyers sent a letter to former Trump attorney Sidney Powell demanding that he withdraw some of his most extravagant claims about the company. The tone of the letter suggested that it was a precursor to possible litigation against Powell or others who have formulated or expanded the claims.
Another target company of Powell and other Trump allies, Smartmatic, sent similar letters to Fox News, Newsmax and One America News this week demanding these media companies withdraw “all false and defamatory statements” about the company.