Fulton County accuses the DOJ and FBI of withholding material information when seeking a warrant to seize 2020 election materials, arguing the affidavit described routine errors rather than probable criminal conduct. The county says the application failed to disclose prior local investigations and witness credibility problems, including that the referral came from Kurt Olsen, whom the filing identifies as a sanctioned 2020-election skeptic now in the White House. A federal judge will hear the county's request next week to return the seized items, and election-security experts submitted by Fulton County say the affidavit misstates how elections operate.
Fulton County Says DOJ Misled Judge in FBI Warrant for 2020 Ballots; Return Hearing Set
Ballots from the 2020 election are loaded onto trucks by the FBI at the Fulton County elections center in Georgia on January 28. - Mike Stewart/AP
Fulton County, Georgia, officials say the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI omitted key facts when seeking a search warrant last month to seize materials related to the 2020 election.
In a court filing Tuesday asking for the seized materials to be returned, county attorneys argued the FBI affidavit failed to allege probable cause of criminal conduct. Instead, the filing says, the affidavit described routine human errors that the FBI’s own sources acknowledge occur in many elections and do not indicate intentional wrongdoing.
Alleged Omissions and Credibility Concerns
The county criticized the FBI for not informing the magistrate judge who approved the warrant that several of the alleged election "defects" had already been investigated locally. Fulton County also says the affidavit omitted information that would have called into question the credibility and expertise of some witnesses relied upon by the federal probe.
The filing notes that the referral that triggered the federal investigation came from Kurt Olsen, identified in the court filing as a 2020-election denier who now works in the White House and who has been sanctioned by multiple courts. Fulton County further contends that other cited witnesses lacked election-administration experience or drew speculative conclusions.
Legal Process and Next Steps
A federal judge has scheduled a hearing next week on Fulton County’s motion to have the seized materials returned. The judge previously granted the county’s request to unseal the warrant application, including an affidavit from an FBI agent that county lawyers say relies on longstanding claims that were already scrutinized.
“The affidavit contains gross mischaracterizations of the facts of how elections work and is directly at odds with the findings and conclusions of prior investigations of the November 2020 election in Fulton County,” said Ryan Macias, an election-technology and security expert who submitted a declaration on behalf of the county.
CNN has reached out to the FBI and the Justice Department for comment. The dispute comes amid continued public claims by former President Donald Trump and some allies that the 2020 election was compromised, assertions that have been repeatedly investigated and litigated.
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