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Georgia officials challenge legality of FBI raid on Fulton County election offices

A search warrant obtained by Scripps News authorized the FBI to seize all physical ballots, voting machine tabulator tapes and voter rolls from the 2020 presidential election.
Fulton County sues to have 2020 election records seized by FBI returned
Georgia Elections Investigation
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Officials in Georgia are challenging the legality of a warrant that allowed the FBI to raid Fulton County’s Election Hub and Operation Center last week.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | FBI executes search warrant at Fulton County elections office near Atlanta

Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robb Pitts said the county filed a formal request Wednesday for the FBI to return all confiscated election documents and to unseal the affidavit filed in support of the search warrant. He also accused former President Donald Trump of attempting to “take over our elections.”

“The president himself and his allies, they refuse to accept the fact that they lost [the 2020 election],” Pitts said at a press conference. “And even if he had won Georgia, he would still have lost the presidency. The 2020 election, I've said it over and over again and you know the story, they've been reviewed, they've been scrutinized, they've been audited, hand recounted, and everything else you can imagine. The results are always the same.”

WATCH | Chairman Pitts announces legal action against the FBI

Fulton County sues federal government over 2020 election records

A search warrant obtained by Scripps News authorized FBI agents to seize and review a wide range of election records from the 2020 presidential election, including physical ballots, voting machine tabulator tapes and voter rolls from that election. Court records show the warrant is tied to potential violations of federal election laws.

Trump has long claimed there was widespread voter fraud in Georgia, a state he narrowly lost to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. State and federal officials have repeatedly said there was no evidence of fraud that would have changed the outcome.

RELATED STORY | Judge blocks Trump’s attempt to overhaul US elections

In 2023, Fulton County prosecutors charged Trump and several of his allies over alleged attempts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. A court later barred District Attorney Fani Willis and her office from continuing the case due to concerns about an appearance of impropriety. A successor declined to pursue the charges, and a judge dismissed the case late last year.

Last month, referring to the 2020 election, Trump said “people will soon be prosecuted for what they did.” It was unclear who specifically he was referencing.

Trump also said this week that Republicans should "take over the voting" in at least "15 places." He repeated claims from after the 2020 election that he won states where official totals showed he lost, calling those states “crooked.”