FBI search of Georgia election offices relied on years-old claims of fraud, affidavit shows

ATLANTA (AP) — The FBI relied connected years-old claims of fraud, galore of them thoroughly investigated, to get a hunt warrant to prehend ballots from predetermination offices successful Fulton County, Georgia, according to an affidavit unsealed Tuesday that shows the probe began with a referral from an medication authoritative who tried to assistance President Donald Trump overturn his 2020 predetermination loss.

The affidavit provides the archetypal nationalist justification for an FBI hunt past period that targeted a region Trump and his allies person agelong seen arsenic cardinal to their mendacious assertion that the 2020 predetermination was stolen. It cites claims that for years person been made by radical who asseverate wide fraud successful the contention adjacent though audits, authorities officials, courts and Trump's ain erstwhile lawyer wide person each rejected the thought of wide problems that could person altered the outcome.

The probe was initiated by a referral from Kurt Olsen, who advised Trump arsenic his run and supporters mislaid dozens of lawsuits challenging the 2020 predetermination and present serves arsenic an medication authoritative overseeing the effort to analyse Trump’s loss, according to the affidavit.

The hunt of the heavy Democratic region stirred contiguous concerns among Democrats that Trump was marshaling the powers of the FBI and Justice Department to prosecute retribution implicit his persistent claims of a stolen predetermination and due to the fact that of the antithetic beingness of Tulsi Gabbard, the country's manager of nationalist intelligence. The affidavit makes nary notation of immoderate grounds of overseas interference successful the 2020 predetermination adjacent though the anticipation of specified meddling has been a longstanding conspiracy mentation among Trump supporters who question the ballot count.

Democrat Joe Biden won Georgia by astir 11,800 votes successful an predetermination overseen by a Republican caput of authorities and certified by a Republican governor.

Georgia officials warring successful tribunal for the instrumentality of the ballots person decried the search, with Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts connected Tuesday calling the allegations “recycled rumors, lies, untruths and unproven conspiracy theories.”

“These accusations person already been debunked, but present we spell again connected a merry-go-round,” Pitts said. “Fulton County volition fight. We’ll combat this with each assets that’s astatine our disposal and we volition not halt fighting.”

Uncertainty implicit whether immoderate transgression was committed

The affidavit says the FBI is examining imaginable “deficiencies oregon defects” successful the Fulton County ballot count, including its admittance that it does not person scanned images of each the ballots counted during the archetypal number oregon the recount. Fulton County has besides confirmed that immoderate ballots were scanned aggregate times during the recount, the affidavit says.

“If these deficiencies were the effect of intentional action, it would beryllium a usurpation of national instrumentality careless of whether the nonaccomplishment to clasp records oregon the deprivation of a just tabulation of a ballot was result determinative for immoderate peculiar predetermination oregon race,” the papers says.

The affidavit says seizure of the predetermination records was indispensable to find whether immoderate records "were destroyed and oregon the tabulation of votes included materially mendacious votes.” It cites imaginable violations of a instrumentality regarding the preservation and retention of predetermination records, a misdemeanor. It besides cites a instrumentality that makes it a transgression to “knowingly and willfully” deprive residents of a “fair and impartially conducted predetermination process,” which is simply a felony.

But the papers besides expresses uncertainty astir whether the imaginable defects represent a crime, noting that elections successful Fulton County person already been the taxable of aggregate reviews.

Previous investigations recovered disorganization, but nary grounds of fraud

Investigations into complaints by the caput of state’s office, an autarkic show and a show reappraisal by the authorities elections board, which came astatine the urging of the Republican-controlled legislature, reached akin conclusions.

After a peculiarly disastrous superior predetermination successful 2020, an autarkic show was hired to observe the wide predetermination that twelvemonth arsenic portion of an statement betwixt the region and the State Election Board. He documented “sloppy processes” and “systemic disorganization” but recovered nary grounds of illegality oregon fraud.

Republican authorities lawmakers successful 2021 utilized a proviso of a caller instrumentality to initiate a show reappraisal of the county’s predetermination practices. That reappraisal recovered that the county’s elections had been characterized by “disorganization and a deficiency of a consciousness of urgency successful resolving issues.” But it besides recovered the region had shown marked improvement.

According to the affidavit, the reappraisal committee stated, “we bash not spot immoderate grounds of fraud, intentional misconduct, oregon ample systematic issues that would person affected the effect of the November 2020 election.”

Many of the 2020 predetermination claims were thoroughly investigated

One of the cardinal allegations is that idiosyncratic inserted 17,852 “duplicate” ballot images into the Fulton County file. But the affidavit quotes 1 witnesser arsenic noting that those perchance fake images were really much pro-Trump than the confirmed Fulton County votes. This indicated to the witness, the affidavit states, “that the instauration of duplicate ballots was intended to marque the recount numbers lucifer much than to impact the result of the election.”

That was a akin decision arsenic that of investigators with the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, the affidavit adds, saying the Republican-run bureau recovered the mistake “not intentional misconduct.”

Another allegation focuses connected “pristine” absentee ballots that an unnamed canvass manager said she saw erstwhile the ballots were counted by hand. She said the ballots were not folded arsenic they would person been if they were enactment successful an envelope, felt antithetic from the different ballots and were each filled successful the same, the affidavit says.

A erstwhile authoritative with the caput of state’s bureau told the FBI that determination would beryllium unfolded absentee ballots successful each predetermination due to the fact that they would beryllium generated by ballot reappraisal sheet members erstwhile they examined damaged ballots.

Investigators with the caput of state’s bureau looked into claims of pristine ballots successful 2021, pulling boxes and batches identified by a pistillate who had worked arsenic an auditor during the manus count, and recovered nary grounds to enactment her claims.

County seeks instrumentality of seized equipment

Agents equipped with a warrant spent hours connected Jan. 28 astatine the region elections hub, conscionable southbound of Atlanta, earlier driving disconnected with trucks loaded with hundreds of cartons of predetermination materials.

A week aft the seizure, Fulton County officials filed a question seeking the instrumentality of the materials that had been taken and the unsealing of the sworn connection presented to the justice who signed disconnected connected the search. The warrant sought the seizure of the pursuing documents related to the 2020 predetermination successful the county: each ballots, tabulator tapes from the scanners that tally the votes, physics ballot images created erstwhile the ballots were counted and past recounted, and each elector rolls.

“Claims that the 2020 predetermination results were fraudulent oregon different invalid person been exhaustively reviewed and, without exception, refuted,” the region argued successful a tribunal filing.

____

Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi successful Denver contributed to this report.

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.