FBI warrant called 'recycled election conspiracy theories'
National News
Audio By Carbonatix
7:07 AM on Wednesday, February 11
Kim Jarrett
(The Center Square) – A search warrant for the Fulton County Election Board offices is part of a plan to "dramatically remake" elections, said Lauren Groh-Wargo, CEO of Fair Fight Action.
The FBI raided the Georgia office on Jan. 28, taking physical ballots, tabulator tapes, ballot images and voter rolls. The intention behind the raid is "clear," Groh-Wargo said in a news conference held by the organization.
"They want to dramatically remake our elections, to curtail who is able to vote, who is able to vote and get their votes counted," Groh-Wargo said. "They want to dramatically reduce early vote and vote by mail."
Fulton County is the only county raided by the FBI, but this is the "tip of the iceberg," she said.
"We all know this is a much larger, broader, right-wing voter suppression conspiracy that is now central to one of the two parties operation procedures," Groh-Wargo said.
The accusations have already been "debunked," said Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts in a news conference broadcast shared on YouTube by WXIA Atlanta.
"Fulton County will fight his with every resource that is at our disposal, and we will not stop fighting," Pitts said.
President Donald Trump has questioned the outcome of the 2020 presidential contest in Georgia, which he lost to Joe Biden by 11,780 votes. Biden defeated Trump 306-232 in electoral college votes; Georgia contributed 16 to the Democrats' win, not enough of a swing (32 points) to reverse the 74-point setback. Recounts did not find enough evidence to overturn the results.
The FBI said in the warrant that it wanted all physical ballots, including envelopes, damaged ballots, advanced voting ballots, tabulator tapes, ballot images, and voter rolls, according to the warrant filed in U.S. District Court. Fulton County is suing to get the documents back.
Trump shared an all-caps post on Monday from Jan Johnston, a member of the Georgia State Election Board, that said the records should not be returned to Fulton County until they were "copied, reviewed and investigated."
The president is using Fulton County and looking at other cities to nationalize elections, Pitts said.
"I am not a constitutional lawyer by any means but I do know that states run elections, not Congress and not the White House," Pitts said.
