FBI seizure of Fulton County election ballots happened quickly after criminal probe opened, new timeline shows

FBI 2020 election materials were seized Experts told CNN there was unusually rapid progress for this type of case, just weeks after a criminal investigation was opened out of Georgia.

The new timeline submitted Friday was provided by the Justice Department at the request of District Judge Jean-Paul Boulee, who asked the Department of Justice to provide more information about the beginning of the FBI’s investigation. criminal investigation to the Fulton County polling facility.

Fulton County officials argued in court filings that the criminal investigation appeared to be “a pretext to obtain records that this Administration could not quickly obtain through the civil litigation process.”

But the Justice Department argued that the theory was “absurd for many reasons” and that the state did not meet the high bar required for this decision. seized materials will be refunded. The department also argued in court filings that the federal government “used the criminal process to obtain the records as a greater burden than obtaining those records through civil means.”

Weeks of hearings in the ongoing lawsuit filed by Futon County officials seeking the return of ballots predate the release of the timeline. And the federal government’s previous civil lawsuit began last year.

In December, the Justice Department sued Fulton County, seeking records related to the 2020 election as President Donald Trump continues to seek to prove his false claims that the election was stolen from him.

In the lawsuit, the Justice Department Civil Rights Division alleged that the Atlanta-area county failed to comply with a subpoena issued by the Georgia State Board of Elections for “cast and invalid ballots, drafts of all ballots, signature envelopes, and related envelope digital files from the 2020 General Election.”

DOJ’s investigation timeline

In a filing Friday, the Justice Department states: Kurt OlsenThe 2020 election denier who made the referral that launched the criminal investigation and now serves in the White House officially did so at 9:03 a.m. on Jan. 5, 2026, the Justice Department said. The Ministry of Justice said that a request to dismiss the civil lawsuit was submitted at 20:36 on the same day.

The Justice Department said the supervisor of agent Hugh Raymond Evans assigned to the case initiated an “evaluation” on Jan. 6, 2026. Six days later, Evans requested that the matter be opened to a full investigation, and on January 14, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Atlanta field office approved the request.

The filing alleges that Evans drafted the investigative summary prior to the search warrant on Jan. 19, which was then formally converted into a warrant affidavit on Jan. 22. The FBI then served the search warrant at the election office in Fulton County 28 to 23 days after the criminal investigation began.

‘Everything happened so fast’

CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst Andrew McCabe, who previously served as deputy director of the FBI, told CNN that although timelines for investigations vary, in his 21-year career at the agency he has never seen a situation where the government initiated a criminal case on a matter that is currently the subject of a civil lawsuit.

“It all happened so quickly, especially in a case like this, which begs the question, why was it such a priority?” said McCabe.

McCabe also said that “political pressure” may have been the motivation behind the FBI’s decision to quickly pursue the investigation; especially since drug cases have historically seen such rapid turnarounds where evidence can disappear. McCabe said the evidence or votes went nowhere in this case.

Michael Moore, who served as the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia under President Barack Obama, echoed McCabe’s comments about the unusually fast pace of the investigation.

Moore told CNN that the speed at which it went from official dispatch to search warrant was “pretty quick” and “not the kind of thing you normally see.”

Moore said he found the pace of the investigation unusual because the case did not appear to involve “matters of life and limb,” which may explain the urgency of moving forward with a search warrant.

CNN has reached out to the Department of Justice for comment. The FBI referred CNN to the Department of Justice after receiving a request for comment.

Lawsuit continues as Trump admin seeks role in election functions

Boulee, a Trump appointee in his first term, will have to decide whether to return all of Fulton County’s election materials.

Georgia one of several states It’s where 2020 election skeptics ascended to state and local government positions and continue to cast doubt on Trump’s defeat despite overwhelming scrutiny confirming the outcome. While putting pressure on the Trump administration sweep And legally questionable Along with actions to become more involved in election administration, the seizure of ballots in Fulton County shows how this effort could undermine the work of election deniers who find themselves ensnared in the bureaucracy of running elections.

The FBI’s seizure of 2020 election materials in Georgia — along with the president’s recent calls for the “nationalization” of voting — has raised concerns among some state election officials. federal attack in this year’s midterms.

The administration sought to play an active role in election functions reserved for state and local officials; This includes the Trump Justice Department’s massive push to gain access to each state’s full voter rolls, including private information like partial Social Security numbers and dates of birth.

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