On Wednesday (January 28), FBI agents executed a search warrant at the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center in Union City, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta. The move comes after FBI Director Kash Patel has initiated investigations that fall in line with the long-held grievances of President Donald Trump, including his repeated claims that that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.
An FBI spokesperson initially declined to give further details about the operation, but did confirm to Newsweek that the complex was being searched. But when contacted by The Hill, another spokesperson, Jenna Selitto, said that the agents took away boxes that contained ballots. This was confirmed by Fulton County spokesperson Jessica Corbitt-Dominguez, who said that agents were looking for all records related to the 2020 presidential election.
The situation became more curious after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who has been relatively out of the public eye, was spotted on the phone at the Fulton County Election Hub in a photograph taken by Reuters photographer Elijah Nouvelage. Also present at the search was FBI Deputy Director Andrew Bailey. Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) shared the photo in a post on X, formerly Twitter, asking: “Why is Tulsi Gabbard at an FBI raid on an election office in Fulton County?”
The search warrant was executed a month after a lawsuit was filed against Che Alexander, the clerk for the Fulton County Superior and Magistrate Courts by the Department of Justice. The DOJ claims that it filed the lawsuit after repeated requests for the 2020 presidential election records were ignored. Alexander says that the records cannot be shared without a court order, and has moved to dismiss the lawsuit.
Fulton County was pivotal in the 2020 presidential election, going for Joe Biden and delivering the state of Georgia in his presidential win. Trump has repeatedly claimed that the election was stolen despite numerous rulings proving those claims to be false. Last week, he said that “people will soon be prosecuted for what they did,” in reference to the 2020 election but didn’t specify.
The search has raised alarm bells for Democrats and other critics of the Trump administration. Senator Jon Ossoff voiced his concerns while appearing on MS Now’s The Brief With Jen Psaki. “This is a shot across the bow at the midterm elections,” he said.
