(FULTON COUNTY, Ga.) — A top Fulton County official on Thursday blasted the Trump administration for the FBI’s seizure of 2020 election ballots, saying the move is about “intimidation and distraction.”
County officials said the FBI seized original 2020 voting records Wednesday while serving a search warrant at the county’s Elections Hub and Operations Center.
The development comes after President Donald Trump has repeatedly said there was voter fraud in the 2020 election, specifically in Georgia, that contributed to his election loss. Georgia officials audited and certified the results following the election.
“Every audit, every recount, every court ruling has confirmed what we the people of Fulton County already knew: Our elections were fair and accurate and every legal vote was counted,” Robb Pitts, the chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, said at a press briefing Thursday.
“These ongoing efforts are about intimidation and distraction, not facts,” Pitts said.
Last month, the Justice Department sued Fulton County for access to its 2020 election records, including ballot stubs and signature envelopes.
Asked why the county did not turn over the records then, Pitts said “there is a fight” over the ballots, but that county attorneys reviewed the warrant and said was in their best interest to comply.
“Fulton County has nothing to hide,” he said, “Fulton County elections are fair and lawful, and the outcome of the 2020 election will not change.”
The search warrant authorized the FBI to search for “All physical ballots from the 2020 General Election,” in addition to tabulator tapes from voting machines and 2020 voter rolls, among other documents, according to a copy of the warrant obtained by ABC affiliate WSB.
The warrant says the material “constitutes evidence of the commission of a criminal offense” and had been “used as the means of committing a criminal offense.” It was signed by federal magistrate Judge Catherine Salinas.
Specifically, the warrant listed possible violations of two statutes — one which requires election records to be retained for a certain amount of time, and another which outlines criminal penalties for people, including election officials, who intimidate voters or to knowingly procure false votes or false voter registrations.
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