ATLANTA — An FBI investigation of the 2020 election in Georgia’s Fulton County was initiated by a lawyer working for the Trump administration who also aided President Trump’s efforts to try to overturn that election years ago, according to an affidavit unsealed Tuesday.
The affidavit, written by FBI Special Agent Hugh Raymond Evans, led to a judge signing off on a search warrant of Fulton County’s elections hub, just outside Atlanta. The FBI executed that search warrant on Jan. 28, seizing more than 650 boxes of ballots and other 2020 election materials.
The affidavit relies on misleading and already-disproven claims about the 2020 election. Fulton County’s 2020 ballots were counted three separate times, with the results affirmed.
“This warrant application is part of an FBI criminal investigation into whether any of the improprieties were intentional acts that violated federal criminal laws,” the affidavit reads. “The FBI criminal investigation originated from a referral sent by Kurt Olsen, Presidentially appointed Director of Election Security and Integrity.”
Olsen played an integral role in Trump’s failed efforts to overturn his narrow 2020 election defeat by challenging the results in Georgia and other swing states.
The White House did not respond to NPR’s questions Tuesday about Olsen’s role in the administration.
The FBI investigation, according to the affidavit, is focused on five “deficiencies or defects” with the election and the subsequent tabulation.
But those claims include allegations that have been investigated and unsubstantiated by state officials, including claims about missing scanned images of ballots, though state law at the time did not require counties to maintain them as records.
Republican Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state who resisted Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state, was critical of the probe. Raffensperger is now running for governor.
“As Secretary of State, I’ve made Georgia the safest and most secure place to vote,” he said in a statement. “Instead of wasting time and tax dollars trying to change the past with baseless and repackaged claims, let’s focus our efforts on building a safer, more affordable future for all hardworking Georgians.”
In a statement, David Becker, a former Justice Department official who’s now executive director of the Center for Election Information & Research, called the affidavit “much weaker than I suspected.”
“After more than five years, dozens of court cases, and over a year in total control of the federal government, this is all they’ve got?” he said. “If taken at its word, this entire affidavit at most alleges human error after a late night during a global pandemic, all of which had no impact on the outcome of the race.”
The affidavit also does not mention any evidence or suspicion of foreign election interference, raising more questions about the presence of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard at the site of the raid.
In a letter to Democratic lawmakers last week, after the search, Gabbard defended her role in investigating election security. She also confirmed that she “facilitated a brief phone call for the President to thank the [Atlanta-area FBI] agents personally for their work.” The call was first reported by The New York Times. Gabbard said Trump “did not ask any questions, nor did he or I issue any directives.”
Trump and his allies have continued to focus on the 2020 election and falsely claim he was victorious while also taking extraordinary steps to exert federal control over future voting, including suing states to try to obtain unredacted voter rolls and suggesting that Republicans “nationalize” elections.
