A computer forensics contractor involved in the Maricopa County audit is standing by his claim that databases were ‘deleted’ from election equipment before being handed over to auditors, despite some media reports suggesting otherwise.
A database/directory named “Results Tally and Reporting” is alleged to have been deleted from election management system (EMS) machines just prior to the Maricopa County forensic audit.
Ben Cotton, founder of CyFir — a firm involved in the process — told Arizona senators at a hearing on Tuesday that he was “able to recover all of those deleted files and I have access to that data.”
Ben Cotton Speaks At Arizona Senate Hearing:
The mainstream media, however, twisted Cotton’s announcement to suggest that files were never removed in the first place since they were able to be recovered, and articles were published by multiple sources reporting that auditors backtracked on their ‘deleted databases claim.’
In response, Mr. Cotton released a statement on Wednesday clarifying his findings, which he said were “taken out of context.”
“My testimony on May 19th before the AZ Senate is being taken out of context by some media outlets. To confirm: the “Databases” directory on the EMS Primary Server WAS deleted containing the voting databases,” Cotton said in a statement posted to Maricopa County Audit’s Twitter account.
“I was able to recover the deleted databases through forensic data recovery processes. We are performing data continuity checks to ensure that the recovered databases are usable,” he added.
Ben Cotton’s Official Statement
https://twitter.com/ArizonaAudit/status/1395148119457812485?s=20
Here is a clip from Mr. Cotton’s testimony on Tuesday:
