Fulton county to challenge FBI seizure of election documents

Commissioner to file motion requesting return of property unlawfully taken during raid related to 2020 election

Fulton county leaders said they would fire back in court on Monday, intent on limiting the scope of a federal warrant that led the FBI to seize 2020 elections documents last week.

County attorneys intend to file a motion in federal court asking for an order mandating the return of property that was unlawfully seized or retained, said the Fulton county commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr.

The FBI needs to explain why they took original documents including ballots, instead of the copies that a previous ruling in a related civil case had entitled them to, Arrington said.

“The judge in that case told them that they could not get the records, and so instead of them complying with that order, they did an end run and circumvented the judge’s order,” Arrington said. “I can’t imagine that Judge [Thomas W] Thrash will be happy about the fact that they did this after he said no.”