Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents searched an election office in Georgia’s Fulton County, near Atlanta, on Wednesday as part of an investigation into US President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that widespread voter fraud caused his loss in the 2020 election.
The FBI said agents executed a warrant at the Fulton County Election and Operations Center in Union City, a large warehouse opened by state officials in 2023, in what Reuters described as “court-authorized law enforcement activity.”
The Fulton County government said in a brief statement that the warrant “sought a number of records related to the 2020 election.” The search marked the latest move by the Trump administration to use the Justice Department against individuals it sees as adversaries or to step into cases it believes were handled unfairly.
According to a law enforcement official who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, FBI agents sought to seize computers and ballots believed to be stored at the facility as part of an investigation into possible election interference.
A law enforcement official said the search was completed Wednesday night.
Fulton County Commissioner Accuses Trump of ‘Trying to Create Chaos’
Fulton County Commissioner Mo Ivory mentioned that an arrest warrant had been issued and said federal authorities were removing 700 ballot boxes from a secure location. In a video shared on social media from inside a polling center, she accused Trump of “trying to create chaos” to help Republicans ahead of the November election.
In a separate interview with reporters, Ivory described the federal action as an “attack on voters” and said local officials were considering possible legal action to stop it. “We know that in America right now, it doesn’t matter if what you say is the right thing. If our president wants to bring in forces, he will,” Ivory said.
Democrat Joe Biden clinched Georgia, defeating Republican Donald Trump, who was running for re-election in 2020. Trump won the 2024 election and returned to the White House for a second term last year.
Meanwhile, Rick Hasen, a UCLA law professor, said Trump’s fixation is not unusual in itself, but noted that the difference is the power he wields. “The man is obsessed, like a lot of people, but he’s the only one who has the full power of the United States behind him,” Hasen said, according to the AP.
Hasen and other observers said Trump’s decision to use the FBI to pursue his complaints about the 2020 election reflects a broader pattern in which the president has turned the federal government into a vehicle for personal retribution.
