(AFP) – The FBI seizure of 2020 ballots in the southern state of Georgia stemmed from a criminal probe launched by an advisor to US President Donald Trump who backed his failed bid to overturn the election, according to a search warrant unveiled Tuesday. FBI agents last month raided election offices in Georgia’s Fulton County, which includes the heavily Democratic capital Atlanta, removing hundreds of boxes of ballots and other materials related to the 2020 vote, which Trump has falsely claimed that he won.
Fulton County officials filed a lawsuit demanding their return and District Judge JP Boulee, a Trump nominee, ordered the unsealing on Tuesday of the search warrant affidavit used to justify the seizure. According to the document, the FBI is conducting a probe into allegations of “electoral impropriety” in the 2020 election and “whether any of the improprieties were intentional acts that violated federal criminal laws.” “The FBI criminal investigation originated from a referral sent by Kurt Olsen, Presidentially appointed Director of Election Security and Integrity,” it said. As potential evidence of fraud, the affidavit cited a number of previously aired claims about the 2020 vote in Fulton County, some of which have been proven false.
Olsen was among the members of Trump’s 2020 legal team who filed dozens of lawsuits contesting the results that were tossed out by courts around the country. Trump nevertheless continues to falsely claim that he won the 2020 election over Democrat Joe Biden. Trump narrowly lost to Biden in Georgia in 2020 and urged a state election official in a phone call before the tallies were finalized to help him “find 11,780 votes” he needed to win.
The Republican president and others were charged in Georgia over their alleged efforts to subvert the election, but the prosecutor became embroiled in scandal and the case was ultimately dismissed in November 2025. Trump also faced federal charges over his alleged election subversion efforts that led to the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol by his supporters. Those charges were dropped after Trump was elected in November 2024.
Fulton County chairman Rob Pitts, speaking to reporters following the FBI raid, said the county has been targeted because he “stood up to Donald Trump’s big lie.” “Every audit, every recount, every court ruling has confirmed what we the people of Fulton County already knew: our elections were fair and accurate, and every legal vote was counted,” the official said.
US elections are administered by individual states, but Trump recently floated the idea of Republicans moving to “nationalize the voting” in certain areas over his unfounded fraud claims.
© 2024 AFP
