The FBI relied on years-old claims of fraud, many of them thoroughly investigated, to obtain a search warrant to seize ballots from election offices in Fulton County, Georgia, according to an affidavit unsealed Tuesday that shows the investigation began with a referral from an administration official who tried to help President Trump overturn his 2020 election loss. The affidavit provides the first public justification for an FBI search last month that targeted a county Trump and his allies have long seen as central to their false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, per the AP.
It cites claims that for years have been made by people who assert widespread fraud in the contest even though audits, state officials, courts, and Trump's own former attorney general have all rejected the idea of widespread problems that could have altered the outcome. The investigation was initiated by a referral from Kurt Olsen, who advised Trump as his campaign and supporters lost dozens of lawsuits challenging the 2020 election and now serves as an administration official overseeing the attempt to investigate Trump's loss, according to the affidavit.
The search of the heavily Democratic county stirred immediate concerns among Democrats that Trump was marshaling the powers of the FBI and Justice Department to pursue retribution over his persistent claims of a stolen election and because of the unusual presence of Tulsi Gabbard, the country's director of national intelligence. Georgia officials fighting in court for the return of the ballots have decried the search, with Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts on Tuesday calling the allegations "recycled rumors, lies, untruths and unproven conspiracy theories."
The affidavit says the FBI is examining possible "deficiencies or defects" in the Fulton County vote count, including its admission that it does not have scanned images of all the ballots counted during the original count or the recount. Fulton County has also confirmed that some ballots were scanned multiple times during the recount, the affidavit says. "If these deficiencies were the result of intentional action, it would be a violation of federal law," the document says. But the document also expresses uncertainty about whether the potential defects constitute a crime, noting that elections in Fulton County have already been the subject of multiple reviews. Previous investigations found no intentional misconduct. The AP has more on that.
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