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and that is where we start in atlanta with cnn's zachary cohen. you are breaking this reporting this morning. what have we learned? >> reporter: this is potentially new details about pivotal evidence in this election. as as you mentioned, these lay out a plan to gain access to voting systems in a rural georgia county, coffee county, georgia. we know that trump operatives did break the voting systems in coffee county on january 7th, 2021. but the texts show in days leading up to that, they were working to secure a written invitation to come into the election's office and examine the voting offices in coffee county. >> so, zack, just how high up the chain did it plan go? >> reporter: yeah, we know that this plan was discussed or at least referenced in a december 18th, 2020 oval office meeting where donald trump was present
development linking trump's legal team to a voting system breach in a rural georgia county. zach, what can you tell us? >> reporter: fred, coffee county, georgia is heavily republican where trump won over 70% of the vote there. but after the 2020 election, allies of donald trump and his attorneys tried to get access to a voting system there and ultimately were successful in that. and these new text messages are in the possession of prosecutors now lay out that plan and connect trump's attorneys like sydney powell, rudy giuliani to this planning process and effort to get access to voting systems. it lays out how in the days before the breach, even before 2021, the attorneys were trying to get written information from a local official there. connecting some of the dots showing this was more of a top-down effort to get access
indictment. she is very -- works closely with trump lawyer sidney powell. cnn identified powell as an unnamed co-conspirator in the jack smith investigation. these are two separate investigations. a state-level probe in michigan and the federal probe. there is interesting areas of overlap. lambert was involved in georgia, someone who helped powell pay people to go to a rural georgia county and analyze voting machines there, too. so, you know, multi-state effort that is part of the state-level investigations as jack smith is, you know, files his indictment against donald trump as part of the la f >> to be clear. you mentioned the difference between the michigan case and jack smith's case. this is different from the michigan fake electors scheme, right? >> it is. that's also a separate investigation at the state level in michigan, overseen by the attorney general dana nessel there. and unlike jack smith's indictment, which focuses on the people who were at the top, right, the trump-level people
parameters of the charges? >> reporter: we know she's looking at potential conspiracy and racketeering charges. the grand jury that's heard from over 75 witnesses recommended more than a dozen people should be indicted. we don't know if that's a number she's going to go with, if it could be higher or lower. again, it's looking at false comments before state lawmakers, it's looking at donald trump's infamous phone call to georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger. we're also looking at, in her case as well as the documentary, some other episodes that people at home may know less about, like the people who showed up to harass and intimidate election workers in a rural georgia county. >> and i'm asking to look into the crystal ball, but is there any guess as to when these charging decisions could come? >> reporter: she was signaled, fani willis, to her security
state of georgia, a cnn exclusive reveals for the first time text messages between two men working with the former president's legal team who are tasked with finding alleged voting fraud messages. the operatives are trying to figure out what to do with data in a breach voting machine from a rural georgia county and whether they should or even could use that information to try to decertify the state. eight senate runoff in 2021. here's one message, one of the operative writes this here's the plan. let's keep this close hold. we only have until saturday, decide if we're going to use this report to try to de certify the senate runoff election or if we hold it for a bigger moment. the men did not respond to cnn's requests for comment. now to another cnn exclusive. the investigation into hunter biden is heating up as legal teams. his legal team rather is set to meet with justice department officials next week. sources say the long running probe into the president's son is focused on potential tax crimes and a gun purchase. cnn's paula reid has
information could be used to try to decertify the state senate runoff in 2021, cnn's national security reporter, zack cohen, is here to discuss the new reporting. zach good to see you. what are the text? say? what does it all mean? victor and amra. these texts really show how two men that were working with donald trump's legal team people like sidney powell people like rudy giuliani that they were talking two weeks after january, 6th after the capital riot about how to use this data from a voting system that was breached and coffee county, georgia, which really is a rural georgia county voted overwhelmingly for trump. but this breach happened one day of their voting system happened one day after the january 6th riot, and two weeks later, these two operatives that we're still working with trump's lead eagle team. we're talking about ways that they could use that data to produce a report. that could ultimately be used to try to decertify the georgia senate runoff. now if you take a look at these texts, they're very queer, says here's the plan. let's keep this close hold. for
senator, it says for three decades 39 million californians counted on you to be our hardworking voice in washington day in and day out. we respectfully ask you to give one more gift of service to our great state by fully stepping back to allow a new appointee. the democratic senator was hospitalized with shingles. last month. organizers for the letter are worried her absence could affect key senate votes. all right. and now to this cnn exclusive, newly revealed text messages show that former president trump's legal team didn't just try to overturn the 2020 presidential election in georgia. their operatives also tried to impact the senate race in that state. in those messages , the operatives try to figure out what to do with data obtained from a breached voting system in a rural georgia county and whether that information could be used to decertify the 2021 senate runoff, in which democrat john s off. defeated
an ongoing threat to our democracy today. "washington post" is out with new reporting that an election official in a rural georgia county threw open the doors to a stop the steal activist who was looking to probe election results there, looking for fraud, fraud that we all know now simply does not exist. that activist later claimed to have arranged for investigators to fly down to that georgia county to copy data from voting equipment. from the post reporting, quote, trump had carried the conservative county by 40 points but election supervisor misty hampton said she remained suspicious of joe biden's win in georgia. hampton made a video that went viral soon after the election, claim to go show that dom i don't know voting systems machines, the ones used in her county, could be manipulated. she said in interviews that she hoped the georgia businessman who visited later, scott hall and others who accompanied him could help identify vulnerabilities and prove, quote, that this election was not done true and correct, end
crisis. >> reporter: 24 years ago rural burke county, georgia jumped out of farming and into the nuclear age and today we're on the trail of a nuclear explosion of money. the welcome sign here is clearly up. welco welcome, plant local and hunters. they don't see much of a downside to a backyard nuclear plant. >> well, i guess it's all right. so far. got to put one somewhere. >> reporter: the georgia power company's plant already again rates electricity for 600,000 homes and 69% of the county's property tax revenues. >> something interesting we learned about this place, it is not only the county's biggest employer, it's also its biggest tourist attraction. last year, 2,000 people visited the plant. many asking about one thing -- >> mainly, jobs. >> jobs. >> yeah. >> people want to know if they can get a job out here. >> right. and that's one of the things
differences in compensation were based on property improvements and not race. listen. >> to turn this land back over to the original owners is not only legally incorrect, but economically it borders on a disaster for this very poor county, macintosh county. >> reporter: you see the land is currently in use as a national wildlife refuge, which attracts 90,000 visitors a year to this sparsely populated, rural georgia county. jon: what about the environmental impact of letting them go back in, would that be a factor? >> reporter: yeah that is certainly a big concern from the federal government. the federal government says this spot where i am right now is home to more than 300 bird species, including some endangered wood stork populations. refuge managers say allowing even moderate residential