Fulton County urges judge to return 'all' 2020 election files as legal expert exposes Trump's unconstitutional call to 'take over' voting

After the FBI raids successful Fulton County, Georgia, wherever Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was spotted connected the crushed and President Donald Trump was heard connected the phone with agents past week, section officials person filed a question nether seal demanding the instrumentality of "all" seized files.

Fulton County specifically and Georgia much broadly person been a fixation of Trump's since 2020, erstwhile his lawyer Rudy Giuliani defamed predetermination workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss and erstwhile the president, days earlier Jan. 6, pressured the state's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find 11,780" votes.

Not adjacent 1 period ago, the medication attempted to recast the unit of Jan. 6 as the responsibility of Democrats, claiming "mere trespassers oregon peaceful protesters" Trump went connected to contented broad pardons to were "treated arsenic insurrectionists." This ignored that Jan. 6 was the culmination of Trump and his allies' monthslong baseless stolen predetermination rhetoric and the Trump campaign's failures to marque the lawsuit anywhere successful court that systemic, election-altering fraud had handed Joe Biden the presidency.

Now, with a loyalist successful FBI Director Kash Patel and DNI Gabbard physically contiguous for the raid in an evident oversight role, the Trump medication is, successful the presumption of section officials, making Fulton County the "epicenter" of the president's recently stated docket to "nationalize" elections based connected feelings that wide fraud indispensable person occurred for him to lose.

The national tribunal lawsuit against the national government, County Chairman Robb Pitts said Wednesday astatine a property conference, demands the instrumentality of 2020 predetermination ballots, tabulators, and elector rolls, and additionally "seeks the unsealing of the affidavit that was filed successful enactment of the hunt warrant that the FBI utilized to raid our warehouse."

Pitts, remarking that Gabbard's beingness signified "something sinister" is "going on," told a newsman that helium agreed Fulton County is "in information the epicenter" of an effort to nationalize elections.

"They're fixated connected 2020," Pitts said, calling the raid the "first measurement of immoderate they're going to bash to suppress voters" successful the accelerated approaching predetermination cycle, besides worrying that the feds whitethorn tamper with seized grounds successful the lack of an inventory of the 700 oregon truthful boxes that were taken.

Fulton County is important to the president for different reason. It's wherever his jailhouse mug changeable was taken, aft DA Fani Willis, a Democrat, launched an predetermination RICO lawsuit against Trump and 18 of his allies, lone for the case to clang and pain due to Willis' "improper conduct."

The question comes days aft Trump said connected ex-FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino's amusement that Republicans should beryllium saying "We privation to instrumentality over, we should instrumentality implicit the voting successful astatine slightest 15 places" and "nationalize the voting."

Benjamin Ginsberg, a Republican predetermination lawyer, made an quality Tuesday connected CNN, telling anchor Jake Tapper that Trump's aims are "certainly not law oregon legal."

'It's surely not law oregon legal… the president has zero authorization nether the Constitution to bash what he's suggesting.' Republican elections lawyer Ben Ginsberg weighs successful connected Trump's telephone for the GOP to 'take implicit the voting' successful 15 places. pic.twitter.com/1cmiZDOLZP

— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) February 4, 2026

"It's surely not law oregon legal. The Constitution does springiness the powerfulness to tally elections to the states. Congress tin enactment rules successful for Senate and legislature elections. The president has zero authorization nether the Constitution to bash what he's suggesting," Ginsberg said. "As a ineligible matter, it's wrong."

Ginsberg added that Trump is turning "upside-down" blimpish Republican orthodoxy.

"For years and years, it has been an nonfiction of religion that powerfulness should travel up from the states to the national government," helium said.

In a 2020 op-ed, 2 months earlier the predetermination Trump inactive won't admit helium lost, Ginsberg wrote that the president, his then-Attorney General Bill Barr, and Republican lawmakers were incorrect to accidental U.S. elections are marred by widespread, systemic fraud and "rigged" arsenic a effect of mail-in ballots.

Ginsberg, citing his acquisition moving for Republican causes since 1984, wrote that his occupation was to look for fraud and helium did not find "proof of wide fraud."

"Each Election Day since 1984, I've been successful precincts looking for voting violations, oregon successful Washington helping tally the nationwide GOP Election Day operations, overseeing the thousands of Republican lawyers and operatives each predetermination connected alert for voting fraud," helium said. "The information is that aft decades of looking for amerciable voting, there's nary impervious of wide fraud. At most, determination are isolated incidents — by some Democrats and Republicans. Elections are not rigged."

Ginsberg, besides remembered for playing a cardinal relation successful the Florida recount successful the 2000 statesmanlike predetermination that led to the Supreme Court's determination successful Bush v. Gore and resulted successful George W. Bush's presidency, added that it was "painful" for him to reason that "rule of law" Republicans were politicizing the mail-in ballot to summation an "electoral advantage," not retired of "sincere concern."

The lawyer went connected to testify earlier the Jan. 6 Committee that the 2020 election, dissimilar the 2000 election, "was not close," and the Trump campaign's dozens of lawsuits simply failed to found or adjacent allege the fraud that the president and his allies decried extracurricular of court.

"In each the cases that were brought—60 cases, with much than 180 counts—the elemental information is that the Trump run did not marque its case," Ginsberg testified.

Marisa Sarnoff contributed to this report.