Fulton County Elections Hub and Operations Center on January 29, 2026, the day after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executed a search warrant in connection with the 2020 election in Union City, Georgia, USA.
Ilya Nouverge | Reuters
A federal judge in Georgia has ordered documents related to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s raid on a Fulton County election facility to be unsealed by Tuesday.
The FBI raid late last month was carried out under a judicial warrant and resulted in a large number of ballots from the 2020 election being held by the federal government. Information related to the warrant, including affidavits, must be unsealed by Tuesday, which could reveal new details about the government’s interest in obtaining ballots.
Fulton County Commission Chairman Rob Pitts and the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections are suing the federal government over the seizure of ballots, seeking their return.
“Although appellants initially filed this action under seal, the parties have now indicated to the court that they do not object to unsealing the docket or the motions filed by appellants,” wrote Judge J.P. Bouley, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019.
“Defendant indicated that he would not object to the unsealing of the search warrant affidavit and other documents related to the warrant, subject to the redaction of the names of non-government witnesses,” Bouley added, giving the government until Tuesday to submit the redacted warrant affidavit.
The FBI raid has come under intense scrutiny in the weeks since it was carried out. President Trump and his allies vehemently denied that he lost the 2020 election to former President Joe Biden, but this claim turned out to be false. Fulton County is at the center of the current allegations of election fraud, which the president and his surrogates continue to assert to this day, despite a manual recount confirming Biden’s victory in the state.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s appearance on the Georgia attack only fueled speculation, and the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee condemned the appearance. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner and other Democrats have warned that President Trump could try to interfere in the 2026 midterm elections.
“When you put all of this together, it’s clear that what happened in Fulton County is not about looking back, but shaping the outcome of future elections,” Warner said last week.
Gabbard defended her appearance at the election center, writing in a letter to Warner that it was “at the request” of President Trump and that she only observed the operation “for a short period of time.” President Trump later said at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday that it was actually Attorney General Pam Bondi who claimed Gabbard would oversee the raid.
President Trump has recently advocated for the federal government to take over the election. State and local governments typically conduct elections without interference from the federal government.
