Stephen Fowler

So now, somehow, we are here with this seizure.

We don't know.

That's because the warrant mentions an FBI affidavit, but that's under seal.

In the search warrant, there are two criminal laws mentioned, one of them about counting of ballots that are fraudulent.

The other has to do with keeping records of an election for two years after it's over.

The FBI hasn't answered any of our questions, and I will note we are more than five years after this election, so there are also questions about the statute of limitations.

Well, the only reason these records are available to be seized by the FBI is because a court ordered them kept under seal because of numerous lawsuits making fantastical and unproven allegations of fraud in Georgia's most populous county that's also heavily Democratic.

And I cover this election and its aftermath firsthand, which has included five years of constant false claims about how Fulton County ran its election, like workers pulling out suitcases of ballots to accusations that any ballot that wasn't cast on Election Day was somehow fake or illegitimate.

Also, it's one of several places where Trump faced criminal charges for his efforts to overturn that election.

though that case was dropped at the end of last year.

Well, it's not something you would think it's in her purview, but the White House says Gabbard is playing a key role in making sure an election, quote, can never, ever be rigged again.

At the same time, the Trump administration is inserting itself in elections in other ways, like suing states for unredacted voter rolls and using data from other government agencies like Social Security to find evidence of non-citizen voting, which evidence has shown to be incredibly rare.

All of this action by the Trump administration is ratcheting up tensions with state and local election officials who worry about what other steps the government might take in this midterm year.

The FBI wouldn't answer NPR's questions about the search warrant for the Fulton County elections warehouse outside of Atlanta.

But Georgia's most populous county has been the subject of baseless claims of election fraud since 2020.

Last month, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit seeking to gain access to Fulton County's ballots, and a state court judge recently allowed the Republican Majority State Election Board to move forward with a subpoena for 2020 documents, too.

This as the DOJ has sued 25 states, including Georgia, seeking access to unredacted copies of their voter rolls.

Stephen Fowler, NPR News, Atlanta.

Court filings say the Doge employees were secretly in touch with an advocacy group seeking to overturn election results.

That potentially violates the law preventing government employees from using their jobs for political purposes.