The FBI seizure of Georgia ballots depends on debunked claims : NPR

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Mike Stewart/AP ATLANTA — An FBI investigation of the 2020 election in Georgia's Fulton County was initiated by a lawyer working for the Trump administration who additionally aided President Trump's efforts to attempt to overturn that election years in the past, based on an affidavit unsealed Tuesday.

The affidavit, written by FBI Particular Agent Hugh Raymond Evans, led to a choose signing off on a search warrant of Fulton County's elections hub, simply outdoors Atlanta. The FBI executed that search warrant on Jan. 28, seizing greater than 650 bins of ballots and different 2020 election supplies.

The affidavit depends on deceptive and already-disproven claims in regards to the 2020 election. Fulton County's 2020 ballots have been counted three separate occasions, with the outcomes affirmed.

"This warrant software is a part of an FBI prison investigation into whether or not any of the improprieties have been intentional acts that violated federal prison legal guidelines," the affidavit reads. "The FBI prison investigation originated from a referral despatched by Kurt Olsen, Presidentially appointed Director of Election Safety and Integrity."

Olsen performed an integral function in Trump's failed efforts to overturn his slim 2020 election defeat by difficult the ends in Georgia and different swing states.

The White Home didn't reply to NPR's questions Tuesday about Olsen's function within the administration.

The FBI investigation, based on the affidavit, is targeted on 5 "deficiencies or defects" with the election and the next tabulation.

However these claims embody allegations which were investigated and unsubstantiated by state officers, together with claims about lacking scanned pictures of ballots, although state legislation on the time didn't require counties to keep up them as information.

Republican Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state who resisted Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss within the state, was important of the probe. Raffensperger is now operating for governor.

"As Secretary of State, I've made Georgia the most secure and most safe place to vote," he mentioned in an announcement. "As a substitute of losing time and tax {dollars} making an attempt to alter the previous with baseless and repackaged claims, let's focus our efforts on constructing a safer, extra reasonably priced future for all hardworking Georgians."

In an announcement, David Becker, a former Justice Division official who's now government director of the Heart for Election Data & Analysis, known as the affidavit "a lot weaker than I suspected."

"After greater than 5 years, dozens of court docket instances, and over a yr in complete management of the federal authorities, that is all they have?" he mentioned. "If taken at its phrase, this complete affidavit at most alleges human error after a late night time throughout a world pandemic, all of which had no impression on the result of the race."

The affidavit additionally doesn't point out any proof or suspicion of international election interference, elevating extra questions in regards to the presence of Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on the web site of the raid.

In a letter to Democratic lawmakers final week, after the search, Gabbard defended her function in investigating election safety. She additionally confirmed that she "facilitated a short cellphone name for the President to thank the [Atlanta-area FBI] brokers personally for his or her work." The decision was first reported by The New York Instances. Gabbard mentioned Trump "didn't ask any questions, nor did he or I challenge any directives."

Trump and his allies have continued to concentrate on the 2020 election and falsely declare he was victorious whereas additionally taking extraordinary steps to exert federal management over future voting, together with suing states to attempt to receive unredacted voter rolls and suggesting that Republicans "nationalize" elections.