Seattle, Washington FBI Bureau File - Paperless Archives

1 SDPA Hobbs then showed Debwa the QC batch reports that showed no indication of
verification calls being made. Debwa mumbled and said something like her full name
2 was not on those forms. It was obvious that this was one of the things that happened
at the end when things were falling apart.
3
Debwa said that she would be happy to look at the un-initialed cards sent to King
4 County, stating that she would probably be able to recognize the handwriting.
5 Debwa then said she thought Mitchell filled out a large number of cards getting names
from phonebooks, and that he then divided them among the workers.
6
Debwa mentioned that ACORN flew Mitchell to Michigan at one point to assist with
7 operations there.
8 She then stated clearly that she believed at the end that employees, coordinated by
Mitchell, were using phonebooks to fill out the cards. She said that this occurred
9 mostly the last two weeks, and it was prompted by pressure from ACORN.
10 Debwa was asked to name the suspects. She gave the following names: Mitchell, Olson,
Woods, Johnson and Thill.
11
Debwa was asked if she communicated explicitly to ACORN that there were problems. She
12 said she told Stephanie Moore that cards were not filled out right. She said that
Moore told her to just fill out her paperwork.
13
June 26, 2007
14 SDPA Hobbs and I met Brianna Debwa at the US Attorney's Office/Tacoma for an
interview. We used a conference room in that office for the interview. Debwa
15 previously agreed to the meeting and showed up on her own.
16 The following is what Debwa told us in response to our questions:
17 (As a note, Debwa was very defensive during the entire interview. Also, she was very
evasive and it was necessary to ask questions seve·ral times in order to get an answer.
18 If there was an answer to a question, if at all, it was an evasive answer.)
19 Debwa started off by saying that ACORN was not sending enough money to the Tacoma
office, and that's why the cards were sent late to King County Elections .. She said
20 she did what she had to do.
21 When it was pointed out that at least 900 cards did not have initials, Debwa said that
it was the crew leader's job to ensure that all cards were initialed. She said that
22 Clifton Mitchell and Ryan Olson were crew leaders. Debwa said she didn't notice that
the cards didn't have initials.
23
Debwa was shown an "election official verification sheet" by SDPA Hobbs. The copy he
24 showed her appeared to have been filled out by her. Debwa looked at the form for
25
Certification for Determination
of Probable Cause
Norm Maleng
Prosecuting Attorney
W 554 King County Courthouse
Seattle, washington 98104-2312
(206) 296-9000