Georgia prosecutors have reportedly obtained text messages linking a breach of voting machines to members of Donald Trump’s team as a grand jury prepares to hear evidence in a case surrounding the former president’s attempts to overturn 2020 election results in the state. That state investigation – separate from a federal probe and indictment charging Mr Trump with three criminal conspiracies and obstruction in connection with 2020 election subversion – appears to connect Trump-linked attorneys and operatives to a breach of voting machines in Coffee County. As Mr Trump and his allies hunted for evidence of fraud to undermine Joe Biden’s definitive victory, a local elections official allegedly sent a “written invitation” to attorneys working for then-President Trump, according to text messages reportedly obtained by CNN. Last year, a former Trump official told the House select committee investigating January 6 and attempts to overturn election results said that White House officials had discussed plans to access voting machines in the state during an Oval Office meeting on 18 December 2020. While much of the attention surrounding the Georgia case has involved Mr Trump’s call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” votes to ensure his victory, investigators have scrutinised the actions in Coffee County, and prosecutors appear prepared to argue that attempts to infiltrate sensitive voting machine software were a top-down effort from the former president. Mr Trump won the rural county in a landslide with 70 per cent of the vote. Katherine Friess, an attorney working with Trump-allied attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, among others, had shared the “invitation” to examine the county’s Dominion Voting Systems software on 1 January 2021, days before the breach, according to CNN. One month earlier, Ms Powell – who amplified false claims and conspiracy theories about Dominion that were central to a landmark defamation settlement between the company and Fox News – had previously enlisted forensics company Sullivan Strickler for $26,000 to investigate Michigan machines. Ms Friess also sent a “Letter of invitation to Coffee County, Georgia” to former New York City Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik, who was working with Mr Giuliani to bolster spurious claims of voter fraud, according to court documents in a civil case. Her texts reportedly show that she told operatives who ultimately performed the breach that Mr Trump’s team had secured written permission, CNN reported. “Just landed back in DC with the Mayor huge things starting to come together!” an employee with Sullivan Strickler reportedly wrote in a group chat on 1 January 2021. “Most immediately, we were just granted access – by written invitation! – to Coffee County’s systems. Yay!” the text reads, according to CNN. Data obtained from the Dominion Voting Systems software was uploaded to a password-protected website that could be accessed by election deniers across the country. Robert Costello, Mr Giuliani’s attorney, said that the former New York City mayor “had nothing to do with this”. “You can’t attach Rudy Giuliani to Sidney Powell’s crackpot idea,” he told CNN. A case led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is the culmination of a wide-ranging investigation over the last two years following the former president’s pressure campaign targeting state officials to reject the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state. Her office has notified at least two witnesses to appear next week before a grand jury, the strongest indication yet that prosecutors are preparing to issue indictments in the coming days. She has previously indicated that a grand jury would vote on indictments by the end of August. Read More Trump steps up attacks on Fani Willis as Georgia probe links Trump team to voting system breach - latest Georgia grand jury to hear Trump election subversion case next week Trump, January 6 and a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election: The federal investigation, explained Who is Fani Willis, the Georgia prosecutor who could take down Trump

If passed into law, the bipartisan debt ceiling deal will dash any hope borrowers might have that the federal student loan payment pause would be extended for a ninth time.

Countries in southern Europe are preparing emergency measures at the start of a heat wave that is expected to push temperatures to 45 degrees Celsius (113F) in some areas over the next few days

On Saturday (July 15), Elon Musk revealed that Twitter is struggling with a “heavy debt load” due to advertising revenue dropping 50 per cent. Responding to a user seemingly giving financial business advice to Musk, the billionaire replied explaining that the company is “still in negative cash flow, due to ~50 per cent drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load. Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else.” Back in April, Musk had said Twitter was “roughly breaking even,” as most of its advertisers had returned. However, a New York Times report in early June found that Twitter’s revenue from US advertising was down 59 per cent from the previous year. Since taking over Twitter in October last year, Musk has faced constant scrutiny for his business decisions, cutting roughly 75 per cent of its workforce almost immediately, as well as reinstating users who were previously banned for breaking terms of service. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In May, Musk hired a new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, an ex-NBCUniversal advertising executive. The new hire was supposed to signal a fresh start for the platform under Musk’s ownership, but it clearly hasn’t worked in bringing previous advertisers back. Twitter has also caused new upset by imposing ‘rate limits’ on how many tweets users can view a day. At the time, Musk had said the restrictions were required to “address extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation”. Another challenge that faces Twitter is Meta’s Threads, the new app it launched this week to compete with Twitter. Meta saw over 100 million users sign up in the first two weeks, but is yet to allow advertisers to host on the platform, despite interest. In response, Twitter threatened legal action, with Twitter’s attorney, Alex Spiro, accusing Meta for unlawfully using trade secrets and other intellectual property to create a “copycat” app. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The incident near the border with Serbia comes amid tensions in areas inhabited by minority Serbs.

Jake Paul has been involved in several controversies throughout his YouTube and boxing career, but some of them are not as well known as others

The Louisiana Republican has allies among right-wing figures in US politics, including Donald Trump.

An 18-year-old woman was killed and six others were wounded in a shooting at a birthday party in Antioch, California, early Sunday morning, police said.

NatWest, one of Britain’s biggest banks, says its chief executive has left her job after discussing personal details of a client — the populist politician Nigel Farage — with a journalist

Holmes is recognized for her distinct 'signature smirk' which has led some people to speculate whether RHS plays a role in her facial expression

Risk of flare-up between Palestinian militants and Israel has been deepening for months, writes Jeremy Bowen

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suffered a political upset as his ruling Conservative Party lost a key parliamentary election