FBI seizure of Georgia ballots reflects pursuit of Trump’s 2020 election grievance

ATLANTA (AP) — In an extraordinary scene this week, FBI agents pulled box trucks up to a warehouse south of Atlanta and drove away with hundreds of boxes containing ballots and other documents related to the 2020 election in Georgia's most populous county.

Fulton County, which votes overwhelmingly Democratic, has been a target of President Donald Trump and his allies since he narrowly lost the presidential election in Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump has long insisted without evidence that widespread voter fraud in the county cost him victory in the state.

The purpose of Wednesday's search and seizure at the Fulton County elections hub has not been revealed. The warrant itself, which should include a sworn statement from law enforcement agent justifying the operation, is under seal and federal authorities have yet to offer an explanation.

Here's what we know about what happened.

Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts got word just after noon Wednesday that federal agents were at the county elections hub. The agents ended up having to leave and come back with a new warrant because they had initially targeted the county elections office when it is the county court clerk who officially has custody of the documents in a secure space at the elections hub, officials said.

County attorneys reviewed the paperwork provided by the agents and advised it would be in the county's best interest to comply with the search, Pitts said. The chairman went to the elections hub, but was kept in the dark about what was happening, he said.

“I was not even allowed where they were,” he said. “I could peek in, but I wasn’t even allowed in the area to see what they were taking.”

Fulton County election board Chair Sherri Allen said she spoke to the agents to try to arrange a way to transfer the documents while keeping copies, but that request was denied. She said she's not sure exactly what was taken.

A warrant cover sheet provided to the county includes a list of items that the agents were seeking. It includes the following documents related to the 2020 general election in the county: all ballots, tabulator tapes from the scanners that tally the votes, electronic ballot images created when the ballots were counted and then recounted, and all voter rolls.

The search injects the FBI and Justice Department, institutions that historically have made investigative and prosecutorial decisions outside the whims of the White House, into the center of a long-running personal grievance of the president.

It adds to concerns that the Trump administration is leveraging its law enforcement powers in pursuit of the president’s political foes, including by pursuing criminal investigations and even indictments against some of his perceived adversaries.

Though an FBI search like the one in Fulton County requires authorization from a federal magistrate judge, it wasn’t immediately clear what information authorities submitted to demonstrate that they identified probable cause of a crime. Audits, state officials, courts and Trump’s own former attorney general have rejected the idea that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election that could have altered the outcome.

FBI Co-Deputy Director Andrew Bailey and U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard were seen onsite but neither has spoken publicly about the visit.

Gabbard's participation was unusual, given that she is not part of the FBI or federal law enforcement.

She has been central to Trump administration efforts to cast doubt on intelligence community conclusions of Russian interference on Trump’s behalf during his successful 2016 campaign, and her presence may be laying the groundwork for the federal government to try to assert that the 2020 race he lost was somehow tainted by foreign meddling.

Asked to explain why Gabbard was there, a senior administration official said in a statement that she “has a pivotal role in election security and protecting the integrity of our elections against interference, including operations targeting voting systems, databases, and election infrastructure.”

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that if Gabbard believes a foreign intelligence service tried to swing the election she is obligated to inform the intelligence committee.

“Or she is simply attempting to inject the non-partisan intelligence community into a domestic political stunt designed to legitimize conspiracy theories that undermine our democracy,” Warner said at a committee hearing Thursday.

The attorney for the government identified on the warrant cover sheet is Thomas Albus, the interim U.S. attorney in the eastern district of Missouri, rather than the U.S. attorney based in Atlanta. The Justice Department has not commented on the case or explained why a Missouri-based prosecutor appears to be leading it.

Democratic officials condemned the search as an attack on democracy and an attempt at distraction, while Republicans defended it as a justified action to determine the truth.

Many Democrats worried that the Trump administration was trying to sow seeds of chaos and distrust ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

“Once they start investigating Fulton County, they will say they found something suspicious,” Rep. Saira Draper said on the floor of the state House. “It doesn’t have to be real, it just needs to offer a pretextual justification for what will happen next. And what happens next is going to depend on the backbone and integrity of the people in this room.”

State Rep. Victor Anderson, a Republican who chairs the House Governmental Affairs Committee, will have a hand in shaping election legislation this year. He warned against overreaction in a speech before the House.

“I have faith in our justice system,” Anderson said.

“What we see yesterday is being characterized as a raid -- it’s being sensationalized in the media; it’s being sensationalized here in this room,” Anderson said. “What we saw yesterday was the lawful execution of a lawfully obtained federal search warrant that was signed by U.S. magistrate court judge. That’s part of the process.”

Fulton County had a history of troubled elections before 2020, with long lines, slow reporting of results and other issues. But the primary that year, with problems exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, was especially disastrous.

As a result, an independent monitor was hired to observe the general election that year as part of an agreement between the county and the State Election Board. He documented “sloppy processes” and “systemic disorganization” but found no evidence of illegality or fraud.

Fulton County’s elections have been closely watched since then. After a performance review found the county had shown marked improvement, the State Election Board voted in 2023 not to take over the county’s elections. And a monitoring team was again present to watch the county's election practices last year and found the election “organized and orderly.”

County leaders have pointed out that a lot has changed in Fulton County since 2020. All of the county election board members are different and most of the elections department leadership has been replaced. New practices and procedures have been implemented, and election operations are now centralized at the hub in Union City instead of being spread across multiple locations.

Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and David Klepper in Washington and Jeff Amy and Charlotte Kramon in Atlanta contributed.

FBI agents are seen at the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Ga, near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard enters the Fulton County Election HUB as the FBI takes Fulton County 2020 Election ballots, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Ga., near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Equipment is loaded into a truck inside the Fulton County Election HUB as the FBI takes Fulton County 2020 Election ballots, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Ga., near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

The Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center, is seen Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Ga, near Atlanta, as FBI agents search at the main election facility. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Georgia General Election 2020 ballots are loaded by the FBI onto trucks at the Fulton County Election HUB, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Ga., near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

NEW YORK (AP) — A man falsely claiming to be an FBI agent showed up to a federal jail in New York City on Wednesday night and told officers he had a court order to release Luigi Mangione, authorities said.

Mark Anderson, 36, of Mankato, Minnesota, was arrested and charged with impersonating an FBI agent in a foiled bid to free Mangione from the Metropolitan Detention Center, the notorious Brooklyn lockup where he is held while awaiting state and federal murder trials in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

A criminal complaint filed against Anderson did not identify the person he attempted to free. A law enforcement official familiar with the matter confirmed it was Mangione. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity.

Anderson is expected to make an initial appearance Thursday in Brooklyn federal court. Online court records did not contain information on a lawyer who could speak on his behalf. A message seeking comment was left with a spokesperson for Mangione’s legal team.

According to the criminal complaint, Anderson approached the jail intake area around 6:50 p.m. Wednesday and told uniformed jail officers that he was an FBI agent in possession of paperwork “signed by a judge” authorizing the release of a specific person in custody at the jail.

When the officers asked for his federal credentials, Anderson showed them a Minnesota driver’s license, threw numerous documents at them and claimed to have weapons, the criminal complaint said. Officers searched Anderson’s bag and found a barbecue fork and a circular steel blade, the complaint said. In a photo included in the complaint, the blade appeared to be a small pizza cutter wheel.

Anderson had traveled to New York from Mankato, about 67 miles (107 kilometers) southwest of Minneapolis, and was working at a pizzeria after another job opportunity fell through, the law enforcement official said.

The attempt to free Mangione happened during a critical stretch in his legal cases.

Hours before Anderson’s arrest, the Manhattan district attorney's office sent a letter urging the judge in Mangione’s state case, Gregory Carro, to set a July 1 trial date.

On Friday, Mangione will be in court for a conference in his federal case. The judge in that case, Margaret Garnett, is expected to rule soon whether prosecutors can seek the death penalty and whether they can use certain evidence against him.

Last week, Garnett scheduled jury selection in the federal case for Sept. 8, with the rest of the trial happening in October or January, depending on whether she allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty in both cases. The state charges carry the possibility of life in prison.

A cause célèbre for people upset with the health insurance industry, Mangione has attracted legions of supporters, some of whom have regularly turned up at his court appearances. Some have donned green clothing, the color worn by the Mario Bros. video game character Luigi, as a symbol of solidarity, and some have brought signs and shirts with slogans such as “Free Luigi” and “No Death For Luigi Mangione.”

Thompson, 50, was killed on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a midtown Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione, a 27-year-old Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.

After several days of court proceedings in Pennsylvania, Mangione was whisked to New York and sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center.

The jail is also home to former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who are facing drug trafficking charges. Its former inmates include hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.

FILE - Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for an evidence hearing, Dec. 18, 2025, in New York. (Shannon Stapleton/Pool Photo via AP, File)