© depositphotos/Pe3check Trump has frequently accused Democrats of “robbing” him of votes back in 2020.
The FBI conducted a raid on Wednesday, January 28, at the Fulton County Election Office in Georgia, situated near Atlanta, subsequent to unfounded assertions made by US President Donald Trump, alleging that his loss in the 2020 election stemmed from extensive voter irregularities, Reuters mentioned.
The FBI stated that agents executed a legal search warrant at the Fulton County Election Center and Operations Center, situated in Union City – a sizable warehouse inaugurated by Georgia officials in 2023. The bureau termed it a “court-sanctioned law enforcement operation.”
The warrant sought “various documents pertaining to the 2020 election,” according to a declaration from the Fulton County government regarding the search, which represents the most recent in a string of actions by the Trump government aimed at leveraging the U.S. Department of Justice against “adversaries” of the current American leader, or to intervene in instances where Trump believes he has been treated unjustly.
FBI agents aimed to seize computers and ballots they believed were located in the building as part of an inquiry into potential electoral meddling, a law enforcement official disclosed to Reuters, while remaining anonymous.
Democrat Joe Biden triumphed in Georgia and defeated Republican Trump, who was vying for re-election back in 2020. Trump reclaimed the presidency for a subsequent term last year, following his triumph in the 2024 election.
Fulton County Commissioner Mo Ivory verified that a warrant was issued and noted that federal representatives had taken 700 ballot boxes “from a secured location.” Ivory accused Trump of “attempting to instigate disarray” to aid Republicans in the congressional midterm elections in November.
In separate remarks to reporters, she described the federal intervention as an “attack on voters” and stated that local administrators were contemplating possible legal avenues to halt it.
“We understand that in America presently, it scarcely matters if what you express is truthful. If our president desires to deploy force, he will,” Ivory informed reporters.
US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard visited the search site on Wednesday, Reuters noted, in a highly uncommon action for domestic law enforcement – one former official referred to it as unprecedented.
Reuters conveyed that Gabbard established a group of several officials from various federal agencies, including the Justice Department, last year, with the purpose of aiding Trump in his pursuit to exact vengeance on his “adversaries.”
The search transpired a week after Trump reiterated his enduring assertion that the 2020 election “was manipulated” during a speech delivered in Davos.
“People will soon be held to account for their actions,” he stated.
The Trump administration, in a separate move last month, initiated a legal action to procure Fulton County’s 2020 ballots. In the lawsuit, the administration asserted that the ballots and other documents it is seeking are in the custody of Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta.
The administration requested a federal judge to mandate Fulton County Clerk of Court Che Alexander to surrender “physical ballots, receipts, and envelopes for absentee voting in the 2020 general election.”
This month, Alexander appealed to the court to dismiss the legal action, stating that the ballots under her custody are sealed under state law, and the administration should instead petition the county’s Superior Court for an order to unseal them.
Democratic-leaning Fulton County offered Biden extensive backing in the 2020 election.
Pressure from Trump
Trump unsuccessfully sought to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 election by exerting pressure on Georgia’s chief election official to “unearth” the votes that would enable Trump to declare triumph. A series of audits, including a recount, affirmed that Biden had narrowly emerged victorious in the state.
This month, Trump initiated a legal action in Georgia seeking $6.2 million in legal expenses he claimed to have incurred while contesting criminal election interference charges filed by Fulton County Attorney Fannie Willis.
Willis’s racketeering legal action against Trump collapsed after it surfaced that she shared a romantic entanglement with one of her hired lawyers. The case was dismissed last year.
Under Trump, the Justice Department has also instigated legal actions against numerous states besides Georgia, demanding they relinquish substantial quantities of voter data. The states have contested the demands as an infringement on their election administration authority. Numerous judges have dismissed the legal actions, the most recent of which occurred this week in Oregon.
Throughout the past year, several individuals who have critiqued Trump or opposed his policies have been subjected to investigations by the Justice Department, spearheaded by Trump appointee Pam Bondi. The department has unsuccessfully attempted to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who previously led the investigation into Trump.
The initial year of Trump’s second term has demonstrated that the United States is swiftly progressing towards the paradigm of an “imperial presidency,” and the world is advancing towards a policy characterized by power dynamics and spheres of influence. Where is America heading under Trump’s administration and why is it perilous, not exclusively for the nation? Oleg Shamshur elucidated this in the article ” Trump’s Anniversary 2.0: No Brakes . “