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The Fulton County authorities in Georgia have filed a lawsuit in federal court, demanding the return of ballots and documents from the 2020 election that the FBI confiscated from a warehouse near Atlanta last week.
According to Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts, the legal motion also requests the disclosure of a law enforcement agent’s affidavit used to justify the search warrant, which was approved by a judge. Pitts explained on Wednesday that this filing, made on behalf of himself and the county election board, remains confidential due to the case being under seal.
The search conducted on January 28 at the primary election facility in Union City aimed to gather records pertaining to the 2020 election. This move has drawn criticism from many Democrats who view it as an example of the FBI and Justice Department being used to target political adversaries of President Donald Trump.
Since losing Georgia narrowly to Democrat Joe Biden, Trump and his supporters have focused intently on Fulton County, known for its Democratic leanings and as the state’s largest county. Trump has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that voter fraud in the area was responsible for his loss in Georgia.
Pitts remarked, “The president and his allies simply refuse to acknowledge their defeat. Even if Trump had secured a win in Georgia, he still would have lost the presidency.”
Pitts defended the county’s election practices and said Fulton has conducted 17 elections since 2020 without any issues.
“This case is not only about Fulton County. This is about elections across Georgia and across the nation,” Pitts said, citing comments by Trump earlier this week on a podcast where he called for Republicans to “take over” and “nationalize” elections. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt has said the president was referring to legislative efforts.
A warrant cover sheet provided to the county includes a list of items that the agents were seeking related to the 2020 general election: all ballots, tabulator tapes from the scanners that tally the votes, electronic ballot images created when the ballots were counted and then recounted, and all voter rolls.
The FBI drove away with hundreds of boxes of ballots and other documents. County officials say they were not told why the federal government wanted the documents.
“What they’re doing with the ballots that they have now, we don’t know, but if they’re counted fairly and honestly, the results will be the same,” Pitts said.
Andrew Bailey, the FBI’s co-deputy director, and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, were seen on-site, at the time. Democrat in Congress have questioned the propriety of Gabbard’s presence because the search was a law enforcement, not intelligence, action.
In a letter to top Democrats on the House and Senate Intelligence committees Monday, she said Trump asked her to be there “under my broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security.”