FBI executing search order connected with 2020 election at Fulton County elections center
Agents with the Federal Bureau of Information are executing a search at a warehouse that serves as Fulton County's election hub.
The agency confirmed that its agents were "executing a court authorized law enforcement action" at 5600 Campbellton Fairburn Road, the site of the Fulton County Elections Hub & Operations Center. Agents wearing camouflage vests were seen going in and out of the warehouse.
An FBI spokesperson did not provide any details about what the search was concerning, other than saying their investigation was ongoing. A spokesperson for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation says that their agency is not involved in the operation.
Fulton County spokesperson Jessica Corbitt-Dominguez said that the search at the county's main election facility in Union City focused on records related to the 2020 election, but declined to share specifics.
The center, which opened in 2023, serves as a storage space for election equipment and office space for multiple Fulton County agencies.
Democratic state Sen. Josh McLarin told reporters at the scene that an FBI evidence retrieval team was loading what he called "700 boxes of ballots" into parked trucks nearby. He expressed his concern about what would happen to the ballots after they are removed from the center.
"If they are able to modify the contents of these ballots. Then there is really no way to find out what happened in 2020," McLarin said.
Fulton County officials call search an "assault on voters"
At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Fulton County District 4 Councilwoman Mo Ivory called the FBI's actions a "scare tactic" and an "assault on voters."
"This is to instill fear and chaos, something that officials at the national level are doing on a daily basis, and this is not a surprise for us here in Fulton County," she said.
Fulton City Councilman Marvin S. Arrington said a judge had ordered the ballots to be sealed and that a previous lawsuit attempting by the White House to unseal them had been denied. Now, he said, FBI was using a criminal search warrant to get access to the documents.
Arrington had shared a picture of the what appeared by be the search warrant signed by a U.S. magistrate judge. The warrant cites two statues that may have been violated: retention of election records and election official fraud.
"The criminal search warrant is under seal, so we don't even know who the target of the investigation is," Arrington said, calling it a "full-frontal attack on democracy" and "retribution" by President Trump.
State Rep. Saira Draper say that multiple audits and an independent investigation absolved Fulton County of any allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election.
"Fulton County is being targeted because it is the largest county in Georgia and it is the home of Atlanta," Draper said. "So, this doesn't pass the smell test."
She said investigators should instead look to Coffee County, a Republican-leading county where there was a breach of voting equipment after the election.
County officials say they have a group of lawyers working to figure out what they can do next.
Fulton County's elections operations in the national spotlight
Mr. Trump has long made Georgia, one of the battleground states he lost in 2020, a central target for his complaints about the election and memorably pleaded with its then-secretary of state to "find" him enough votes to overturn the contest.
Last year, the U.S. Justice Department sued the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections and Fulton County Clerk of Courts Che Alexander, arguing that they had failed to comply with a subpoena requesting all "used and void ballots, stubs of all ballots, signature envelopes, and corresponding envelope digital files from the 2020 General Election in Fulton County." The county responded on Jan. 20, asking for the lawsuit be dismissed.
In May 2024, Georgia's State Election Board heard a case that alleged documentation was missing for thousands of votes in the recount of the presidential contest in the 2020 election in 2020. After a presentation by a lawyer and an investigator for the secretary of state's office, a response from the county and a lengthy discussion among the board members, the board voted to issue a letter of reprimand to Fulton County.
Shortly after that vote, there was a shift in power on the board, and the newly cemented conservative majority sought to reopen the case. The lone Democrat on the board and the chair have repeatedly objected, arguing the case is closed and citing multiple reviews that have found that while the county's 2020 elections were sloppy and poorly managed there was no evidence of intentional wrongdoing.
Sen. Jon Ossoff responds to FBI search
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff released a statement on the search, saying it was an example of Mr. Trump "wielding federal law enforcement as an unaccountable instrument of personal power and revenge."
"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," Ossoff said. "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."
This is a breaking news story and will be updated as soon as additional information is available. The Associated Press contributed to this report.