ATLANTA — Georgia’s Fulton County will ask a federal judge on Friday to order the return of 2020 election ballots the FBI seized as it pursues Republican President Donald Trump’s false claims that his electoral defeat that year was the result of widespread voter fraud.
The hearing in Atlanta federal court is expected to scrutinize the evidence behind the FBI’s seizure of more than 600 boxes of election ballots during its January 28 search of Fulton County’s election center.
The search of the facility, attended by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, shows how the Trump administration is deploying U.S. law enforcement and intelligence authorities to reinvestigate his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump has falsely claimed that his defeat in 2020 was marred by large-scale voter fraud and has sown doubts about the security of U.S. elections ahead of the November midterm elections.
Lawyers for Fulton County, which includes most of Atlanta, have challenged the search in court, arguing it showed a “callous disregard” of the county’s rights under the U.S. Constitution and relied on previously debunked allegations.
“Despite years of investigations of the 2020 election,” the FBI had not “identified facts that establish probable cause that anyone committed a crime,” lawyers for Fulton County wrote in a court filing.
Atlanta-based U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee agreed to hear evidence at Friday’s hearing about the search, but denied Fulton County’s request to put the FBI...
ATLANTA — Georgia’s Fulton County will ask a federal judge on Friday to order the return of 2020 election ballots the FBI seized as it pursues Republican President Donald Trump’s false claims that ...