Did the Clerk have permission to copy the physical hard drives?
Under what statute is she claiming whistleblower status?
I don't think that she ever claimed whistleblower status. She made the decision based on the expose' done by CNN that the 2016 election had been hacked. She had the election server copied before and after the software update and again after the 2020 votes. This seems to have been done to assure that nobody could cheat on her watch.
Correct. If he does not have a legal basis to be in posession of that data, it matters little about the hardware. If I took proprietary and confidential info from some company, it matters little if I stole an envelope from them to hold the docs in or bought my own at Office Max.
Did the Clerk have permission to copy the physical hard drives?
I know at least in this state that is public information. The taxpayers paid for those machines and the contents therein. To enter into those machines and change information and delete files is what’s illegal. Those files and information are property of the taxpaying public.