Federal agents descended on Fulton County’s election operations center Wednesday, hauling away 700 boxes of ballots and records from the 2020 presidential election.
The raid, which FBI Director Kash Patel defended as properly authorized, has ignited a firestorm of criticism over what county officials are calling political retribution dressed up as law enforcement.
But it wasn’t just the raid itself that set off alarms. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard showed up at the scene, an unprecedented move for someone whose job, by law, is focused entirely on foreign threats. Her appearance has prompted demands from congressional Democrats for immediate explanations and raised fundamental questions about whether the Trump administration is blurring the line between intelligence work and domestic political operations.
What the FBI Seized
The search warrant, signed by Magistrate Judge Catherine Salinas, authorized FBI agents to collect a sweeping cache of 2020 election materials from the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operations Center in Union City, Georgia. The list included all physical ballots from the 2020 general election, including in-person, absentee, and other ballots along with absentee ballot envelopes. Agents also seized tabulator tapes from every voting machine used in the county, electronic ballot images from the original count that began on November 3, 2020, and complete voter rolls from absentee, early voting, and in-person voting.
The warrant cited two federal statutes as the basis for the search: one requiring election records to be retained for specific periods, and another outlining criminal penalties for election officials who intimidate voters or knowingly procure false votes or registrations. The document stated that the materials “constitute evidence of the commission of a criminal offense” and had been “used as the means of committing a criminal offense.”
Fulton County Officials Fire Back
Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts did not mince words at a Thursday press conference. “Fulton County has been targeted for years because I refused to bend to pressure” from Trump in 2020, Pitts said. “These ongoing efforts are about intimidation and distraction, not facts.”
Pitts pointed out what he called “one of the strangest things about this case”: the seized records were already the subject of active litigation and were likely to be unsealed and turned over in a matter of weeks through normal legal channels. “All he had to do was ask the judge to do so, but albeit in a much more orderly manner,” Pitts said. “We in Fulton County have nothing, nothing, nothing to hide.”
The raid follows years of Trump claiming, without evidence, that Fulton County’s handling of the 2020 election was rife with fraud. Georgia officials audited and certified the results following the election. Every audit, every recount, and every court ruling confirmed that the elections were fair and accurate and that every legal vote was counted. Numerous lawsuits challenging the election results in the state were rejected by courts.
The Tulsi Gabbard Problem
Here’s where the story takes a strange turn. Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, was photographed at the Fulton County election hub during the raid. She was seen speaking on the phone in a vehicle loaded with seized boxes.
The problem is that Gabbard’s job, by law, is to oversee foreign intelligence threats. She is explicitly prohibited from participating in domestic law enforcement activities. Her predecessors in the role took pains to maintain distance from Justice Department cases and partisan politics.
Two senior officials with knowledge of the matter told NBC News that Gabbard’s presence was unnecessary and was not requested by the Justice Department. “It seems to be an attempt to make herself relevant,” one official said. “It’s so strange.”
The timing is particularly notable. When the U.S. military conducted its operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month, Gabbard was not in the room. She had been posting photos of herself practicing yoga on a beach in Hawaii just two days before that high-stakes operation. Her apparent absence from actual intelligence matters but presence at a domestic political stunt has raised eyebrows about her priorities.
Congressional Response
Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, sharply criticized Gabbard’s trip to Georgia at a hearing Thursday. He outlined two possible explanations, neither flattering.
Either Gabbard believed the Fulton County case had a link to foreign intelligence and failed to inform congressional committees about it, as required by law, or she was tarnishing the nonpartisan reputation of intelligence agencies with “a domestic political stunt designed to legitimize conspiracy theories that undermine our democracy.”
“Either scenario represents a serious breach of trust and a dereliction of duty to the solemn office which she holds,” Warner said.
Warner and Representative Jim Himes, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, sent a letter demanding Gabbard appear before lawmakers immediately to explain her presence at a domestic law enforcement action.
Kash Patel’s Defense
FBI Director Kash Patel, appearing on “The Charlie Kirk Show” Thursday, defended the raid. “What we did yesterday was, we presented our facts and the findings of the investigation, and the judge determined there was probable cause,” Patel said. “Then you saw the results, we went and executed the search warrant and collected the information pursuant to that search warrant to continue our investigation.”
Patel said he “can’t predict” where the investigation will go and noted it takes time to go through “truckloads” of evidence. “These things take time for people to see.”
Trump himself weighed in Thursday evening. “She’s working very hard on trying to keep the elections safe, and she’s done a very good job,” Trump said of Gabbard. “You got a signed judge’s order in Georgia, and you’re going to see some interesting things happening.”
The Bigger Picture
This raid represents a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s effort to reinvestigate the 2020 election. The Justice Department had already sued a Fulton County clerk seeking access to 2020 election documents, a case that was still being litigated. Federal judges dismissed a separate DOJ case seeking sensitive Georgia voter data just this month.
For national security experts, the appearance of the director of national intelligence at a domestic law enforcement operation is deeply troubling. Kevin Carroll, a former CIA officer now practicing national security law, said it’s “unclear what the foreign intelligence nexus is” to an FBI search warrant on a board of elections in Atlanta.
“Absent such a nexus, ODNI’s involvement in the matter is wrong and potentially even illegal” if she participated in the search, Carroll said. He added that Gabbard is now potentially a fact witness in any legal proceedings related to the seized evidence, a complication no intelligence director should willingly create.
What happens next remains unclear. The warrant is sealed, leaving key questions unanswered about who or what is actually the focus of this criminal investigation. County officials say they don’t know where the 700 boxes were taken or when, if ever, they will be returned.
What is clear is that five years after the 2020 election, and after countless audits, recounts, and court cases confirmed its legitimacy, federal law enforcement resources are being deployed to relitigate an election that has already been thoroughly examined and certified.