FBI executes search warrant at election office in Fulton county, Georgia | Georgia
The FBI executed a search warrant at the election office in Georgia’s Fulton County on Wednesday for records related to the 2020 election, according to a spokesperson for the county and the FBI.
The warrant sought all ballots, tabulation tapes, ballot images and voter rolls from the 2020 election in Fulton County, according to a warrant obtained by the Guardian.
Fulton county commissioner Mo Ivory said the initial arrest warrant was “legally incorrect” and was challenged at the scene by county officials. The FBI later issued an amended arrest warrant. Ivory said the county’s superior court clerk, Che Alexander, was in charge of the material and made an inventory of what the FBI had taken from the warehouse.
“The commissioners, the chairman and the district attorney are trying to come up with a legal plan,” Ivory said. Instagram reel Inside the building as FBI agents work. “Maybe an injunction, a motion to quash or something. We’re trying to figure that out.”
Democratic elected officials have said they are concerned that the chain of custody of the material was not meticulously maintained during the seizure, even though federal authorities’ investigation revolved around meticulously maintaining the chain of custody.
“I’ve also heard from Fulton officials that there is no protection for chain of custody,” said Democratic senator Josh McLaurin, who is running for lieutenant governor. “There is no assurance that the chain of custody is maintained. This is very important, because if they can change the contents of these boxes — and when I say ‘they’ I mean the Trump Administration — then we have no way of knowing what happened in 2020.”
The government attorney named in the document is Thomas Albus, who is currently serving as interim U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Missouri. Robert Patrick, a spokesman for that office, said: “Under Justice Department policy, we cannot confirm or deny whether an investigation exists.”
The warrant also alleges that the alleged criminal conduct involved withholding records and issuing fraudulent ballots.
FBI spokeswoman Jenna Sellitto confirmed the FBI had obtained a search warrant but did not provide further details. “Our investigation into this matter continues,” he said.
Donald Trump lost Georgia in the 2020 election, and his false claims of voter fraud in Fulton County, the seat of Atlanta, were at the center of his efforts to overturn the election. Trump and his allies repeated false claims that election officials removed ballots from suitcases after counting was over. Those allegations were as follows refuted and Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump’s lawyers, was ordered to pay $148.1 million in damages to two election workers in a defamation lawsuit.
Trump’s allies nevertheless continued to claim that something was wrong in Fulton County. department of justice civil rights division filed a lawsuit In December, a lawsuit was filed against the county to force officials to turn over ballots from the 2020 election.
The justice department’s lawsuit comes after the Republican-controlled state election board subpoenaed ballots from the 2020 election. A judge ordered the county to begin submitting documents in December but required the county to submit a cost estimate to the state first. It’s not clear if they’ve done this yet.
Estimates provided in court documents suggest the process of imaging and delivering more than 300,000 ballots and other documents would cost almost $400,000 and take months.
U.S. senator Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat seeking re-election, condemned the raid on Wednesday.
“After losing Georgia in 2020, Donald Trump asked state officials to ‘find’ votes to change the outcome, attempted to use the Justice Department to overturn the decision, and attempted to spread conspiracy theories that led to the ransacking of the U.S. Capitol on January 6,” he said in a statement. “Despite repeated audits and independent reviews confirming that Donald Trump was indeed defeated, I suspect today’s crackdown is a continuation of this bitter struggle of the losers.”
“The administration is using Fulton County as a blueprint to see what they can get away with elsewhere,” said Kristin Nabers, state director of the voting rights group All Voting is Local.
“If they’re allowed to vote here, what’s to stop them from confiscating ballots or voting machines in future elections in a county or state where their preferred candidate lost?” he said.
Ivory said this carries the potential for future problems.
“This is an attempt to take away your vote,” he said. “This is all about November 2026.”
