The FBI executed a search warrant at the election office in Fulton county, Georgia, on Wednesday for records related to the 2020 election, according to a spokesperson for the county and the FBI.
The warrant sought all ballots from the 2020 election in Fulton county, tabulator tapes, ballot images and voter rolls, according to a warrant obtained by the Guardian.
Fulton county commissioner Mo Ivory said that the initial warrant was “incorrect legally” and challenged on the scene by county officials. The FBI subsequently obtained a corrected warrant. The county’s clerk of superior court, Che Alexander, is the custodian of the material and was on site at the warehouse inventorying what the FBI was taking, Ivory said.
“The commissioners, the chairman, the county attorney are trying to figure out a legal plan,” Ivory said in an Instagram reel from inside the building as FBI agents worked. “Maybe an injunction, a motion to quash, something. We’re trying to figure it out.”
Democratic elected officials said they were concerned that the chain of custody of the material was not being fastidiously maintained in the seizure, even as the investigation of federal officials revolves around the fastidious maintenance of the chain of custody.
“I have also heard from Fulton officials that there is no protection for chain of custody,” said state senator Josh McLaurin, a Democrat who is running for lieutenant governor. “There is no assurance that chain of custody is being preserved. That is so important, because if they are able to modify the contents of these boxes – when I say ‘they’, I mean the Trump Administration – then there really is no way of knowing what did happen in 2020.”
The attorney for the government listed on the document is Thomas Albus, currently serving as the interim US attorney in the eastern district of Missouri. Robert Patrick, a spokesperson for that office said: “Per Justice Department policy, we cannot confirm or deny whether an investigation exists.”
The warrant also suggests the alleged criminal conduct involved retaining records and tabulating false ballots.
Jenna Sellitto, an FBI spokesperson, confirmed the FBI was executing a search warrant, but offered no further details. “Our investigation into this matter is ongoing,” she said.
Donald Trump lost Georgia in the 2020 election, and his false claims about voter fraud in Fulton county, home to Atlanta, were central to his efforts to try to overturn the election. Trump and allies repeated false claims that election workers pulled ballots out of suitcases after counting had ended. Those claims were debunked and Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump’s lawyers, was ordered to pay two election workers $148.1m in damages as part of a defamation suit.
Trump allies have nonetheless continued claiming something was amiss in Fulton county. The justice department’s civil rights division filed a lawsuit against the county in December seeking to force officials to turn over ballots from the 2020 election.
The justice department’s lawsuit came after the Republican-controlled state election board subpoenaed ballots from the 2020 election. A judge ordered the county to begin turning over the documents in December, but asked the county to provide the state an estimate of costs first. It is unclear if they have done so yet.
Estimates given in court documents suggest the process of imaging and turning over more than 300,000 ballot envelopes and other documents would cost almost $400,000 and take months.
US senator Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat seeking re-election, condemned the raid on Wednesday.
“After losing Georgia in 2020, Donald Trump demanded state officials ‘find’ votes to change the outcome, tried to use DOJ to overturn it, and spread conspiracy theories that led to the Jan. 6 sacking of the U.S. Capitol,” he said in a statement. “I suspect today’s raid is a continuation of this sore loser’s crusade, despite repeated audits and independent reviews confirming that Donald Trump was indeed defeated.”
Kristin Nabers, the state director of All Voting is Local, a voting rights group, said: “The administration is using Fulton county as a blueprint to see what they can get away with elsewhere.”
“If they’re allowed to take ballots here, then what would stop them from seizing ballots or voting machines in any future election in a county or state where their preferred candidates lose?” she said.
Ivory said this held the potential for future problems.
“This is an attempt to take your vote away,” she said. “This is all about November 2026.”
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
