ATLANTA — A central figure in a Georgia election security breach appears to be sidestepping an immunity deal in Fulton County's probe of former president Donald Trump.
Cathy Latham is a Republican activist who is accused of helping Donald Trump operatives access Coffee County's election office equipment two years ago.
Latham is the former Coffee County Republican chair. In surveillance video released from January 2021, Latham is seen helping operatives for Trump enter the Coffee County election office -- where they spent hours inside apparently imaging election software.
Last month, Latham joined attorneys for Trump to move to quash Fulton County’s grand jury report into possible crimes associated with Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
"She's a (former) high school teacher in a rural community," said
Jeanne Dufort, an election integrity activist.
Dufort is part of a nonpartisan group that challenged the cybersecurity of Georgia’s voting machines long before Trump became a presidential candidate -- the group which uncovered the surveillance video with Latham at its center.
"How would this happen? I can see her as a lead character in a docudrama," Dufort said Friday.
In addition to her role in the Coffee County election incursion, Latham was a so-called fake elector for Trump -- among those targeted for possible prosecution by the Fulton County District Attorney, Fani Willis.
While court papers indicate other fake electors have made immunity deals with the D.A., Latham instead hired a new attorney.
"What is it that got her sucked in to all this to make the choices she made?" wondered Dufort.
The absence of an immunity deal doesn’t mean Latham or anybody else can’t get a deal if they want it. It could mean she’s just holding out for a better deal, as the D.A. eyes an announcement this summer of her intentions in the Trump case.