2,000 pages of 'confidential' Dominion emails dumped on social media

DETROIT — A new social media account using the name and photo of Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf released Sunday more than 2,100 pages of emails from employees of Dominion Voting Systems as the company maintained Leaf got improper access to internal messages through the breach of a court order.

An account on the website X with the handle @SheriffLeaf sent out links to the Dominion emails, which were marked "confidential." Leaf didn't immediately respond Monday to a request from The Detroit News asking whether he was personally operating the account.

However, for years, Leaf has investigated the 2020 presidential election and worked with Stefanie Lambert, a Michigan lawyer who's now representing Patrick Byrne, former chief executive officer of Overstock. Dominion, whose election equipment is used in most Michigan counties, is suing Byrne for defamation after he spread conspiracy theories about Dominion's technology.

On Friday, attorneys for Dominion filed an emergency motion in federal court in Washington, D.C., arguing in favor of a judge disqualifying Lambert from providing legal help in the defamation case, contending she had improperly shared with Leaf confidential records, provided under a protective order through document discovery in the lawsuit.

"Dominion seeks the court’s immediate assistance in addressing a flagrant and ongoing breach of this court’s order that has already, and will continue to, irreparably harm Dominion, including, but not limited to, jeopardizing the physical safety of Dominion employees," lawyers for the company wrote in their Friday motion.

That motion was focused on a smaller batch of Dominion records, about 48 pages of emails, that were included with an affidavit written by Leaf that Lambert filed on March 8 in her own criminal case that's pending in Oakland County.

Dominion's attorneys said on March 9, someone left a voicemail accusing Dominion of "breaking our elections" and stating that “America should just f---ing hang all you motherf------."

"From social media calls to lynch Dominion personnel to a man armed with a rifle who came to their offices, Dominion’s employees have directly suffered the consequences of the lies spread by Byrne and his fellow defendants," Dominion's lawyers wrote. "They now fear further threats due to conduct of his counsel done at his direction."

Lambert has been been charged with four felonies for allegedly participating in a conspiracy to obtain and analyze voting equipment that was used in Michigan's 2020 presidential election. Lambert is currently facing a bench warrant for her arrest after not showing up for a court hearing in Oakland County on March 7.

A hearing in Byrne's defamation case is scheduled to take place Monday afternoon in Washington, D.C. Dominion's lawyers are expected to bring up Lambert's release of the discovery documents.

In a Monday email, Lambert said she would be at the federal court hearing. She added that she was "required" to provide the records to law enforcement.

“It contained evidence of criminal acts including honest service fraud, wire fraud and foreign nationals in our election equipment while the votes were being counted," Lambert said.

Lambert and Leaf have repeatedly overstated their findings from examining the 2020 presidential election. Lambert worked on an unsuccessful lawsuit that attempted to reverse former President Donald Trump's loss in Michigan based on conspiracy theories.

Last year, The Detroit News obtained records from Leaf's election investigation in his county of about 63,000 people. As of June 2022, he had failed to uncover wrongdoing that would have affected the results, The News found.

Dominion's lawyers said the documents Lambert released showed no evidence of criminal activity.

"Best Dominion can tell, Byrne and Lambert’s xenophobic conclusion is that any email from non-U.S.-based Dominion personnel is conclusive evidence of criminal activity," the attorneys' emergency motion said.

As of 1 p.m. Monday, the initial tweet from @SheriffLeaf on the subject, featuring a letter from the sheriff to U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, had been shared on X more than 500 times.

Leaf claimed, in his letter, he had evidence in "my file of Serbian foreign nationals entering our election system while the votes were being counted and prior to certification."

"I look forward to Congress working for the American people and quickly addressing these election security problems while I pursue the criminal investigation with sheriffs across the country," Leaf wrote to Jordan.

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