What happened?
Federal agents descended on Fulton County’s election operations center on Jan. 28 to execute what an FBI spokesperson called a “court-authorized activity.” The 600,000-square-foot elections hub in south Fulton is used for voting and county election board meetings.
It also housed documents from 2020, including the physical ballots cast by voters, which had been kept under a court-ordered seal because of pending litigation.
A team of FBI agents scoured the building over the course of several hours before loading hundreds of boxes into large trucks behind the facility and leaving with them.
Did the FBI have a warrant?
Yes. It was signed by U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Catherine Salinas. A former head of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Salinas has been on the bench since 2015, appointed twice by a panel of U.S. District Court judges.
The federal prosecutor listed on the warrant is Thomas Albus, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri. Bloomberg News reported that Albus had been appointed by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead a nationwide investigation into election integrity. Theodore Hertzberg, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, is not named in the document.
What were they looking for?
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
In the warrant, federal officials said they were seeking the following Fulton County records:
- Physical ballots from the 2020 general election, in-person, absentee and other ballots and absentee ballot envelopes.
- Tabulator tapes for every voting machine used.
- Ballot images produced during the original ballot count beginning on Nov. 3, 2020.
- Voter rolls from the 2020 general election from absentee, early voting, in person, and any other voter roll.
What are the alleged crimes?
Two federal statutes are listed in the warrant. One requires that officials maintain election records for 22 months. The other outlaws willfully defrauding voters by counting ballots known to be fraudulent. It’s notable that the election was more than five years ago, which would put it outside the five-year statute of limitations which covers most federal crimes.
How has Fulton responded?
Fulton County took legal action last week in the Northern District of Georgia to retrieve its 2020 records back from the Trump administration and sought to unseal documents related to the raid.
“We will fight using all resources against those who seek to take over our elections,” said Fulton Commission Chair Robb Pitts at a news conference last week. “Our Constitution itself is at stake in this fight.”
On Saturday, U.S. District Court Judge J. P. Boulee ordered that documents justifying the ballot seizure be unsealed by Tuesday.
Why was Tulsi Gabbard there?
Democrats and others, alarmed about National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard’s presence at the Fulton raid, questioned why the nation’s top intelligence official, who oversees the United States’ foreign intelligence gathering apparatus, was in Union City that day.
Gabbard wrote in a letter to members of Congress that Trump requested she be there.
In Gabbard’s letter, she said she “facilitated a brief phone call for the President” so he could thank the federal agents for their work in Fulton. She denied Trump gave the agents specific directives.
Days later, Trump said Bondi directed Gabbard to be on the scene.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
“The director of national intelligence is meant to be focused on foreign threats to the United States,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff said last week. “It is absurd. It cannot be explained why she was present, and there are significant other irregularities about the apparent process here that need to be explained in public.”
Why is this happening now?
Since his 2020 loss in Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden, Trump has continued to insist — without evidence — that the election was rigged. His reelection in 2024 reinvigorated conspiracy theories, as Trump has used his expansive executive branch powers and willing allies to pursue his grievances. Georgia’s State Election Board and the U.S. Department of Justice both issued subpoenas last year to seek access to the 2020 records. Those are being litigated.
Since the ballot seizure, Trump has promised that the raid will produce answers to lingering questions he and his supporters have about 2020.
“You’re going to see something in Georgia where they were able to get with the court order and the ballots,” he said on former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino’s podcast last week. “You’re going to see some interesting things come out.”
What are Trump’s allies saying?
The president’s loyalists applauded the raid. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, the Trump-endorsed candidate for governor, said Fulton County “couldn’t run a bake sale.” And U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, a Senate contender, echoed Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election: “Georgians are about to get some long-overdue answers and learn just how right President Trump was in 2020.”
This story has been updated to reflect recent events.
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