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fulton county
Trump DOJ Resorts to 'Harassing' Georgia Election Workers to Advance 2020 Lies
"This is a clear attempt to seize and hold power over our elections by sending a message that any county or state that doesn't vote in favor of the president or his preferred candidates may be subjected to a harassment campaign."
May 05, 2026
Democracy defenders sounded the alarm just over three months ago, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation executed a search warrant at a Georgia election hub. They expressed concerns again after a court filing revealed late Monday that President Donald Trump's Department of Justice is demanding the names of Fulton County's 2020 election workers.
For years, the Republican president has "obsessively propagated the debunked conspiracy theory that Fulton County 'stole' the 2020 election from him. And he has made it clear that he seeks retribution against those who refuse to indulge his baseless claims," notes the county's Monday filing aimed at blocking the April 20 grand jury subpoena for election workers' personal data.
The largely Democratic county—which includes most of Atlanta—argued that it should not have to turn over workers' names, home addresses, emails, and telephone numbers due to federal overreach and First Amendment concerns, according to CBS News. It also suggested the subpoena is politically motivated and highlighted the statute of limitations for 2020 election crimes.
"After illegally seizing our election records in January, the federal government once again is attempting to misuse criminal process," Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts said in a statement announcing the motion.
"This is yet another act of outrageous federal overreach designed to intimidate and to chill participation in elections. This harassment should not be allowed, so we have asked the court to act," he continued. "I will always stand up for our elections workers and for the truth. Let me be crystal clear. Fulton County will not be intimidated."
Voting rights advocates echoed the concerns noted by the filing and Pitts. Lauren Groh-Wargo, who leads Fair Fight Action, told The New York Times that election workers across the United States now face heightened threats and harassment.
"Roughly a third of election officials are threatened on the job, and more than half worry it's making it harder to hire and keep election workers," Groh-Wargo said. "They're trying to break our democracy by attacking the infrastructure, but we are fighting back hard."
Trump's DOJ is losing in Fulton County – so they've resorted to harassing election workers. In 2020, workers saw death threats due to false claims.This case was initially rejected by ATL's FBI Chief. It's built on false claims that were investigated and rejected, including by Republican officials.
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— Max Flugrath🗳️ (@maxflugrath.bsky.social) May 5, 2026 at 8:31 AM
All Voting Is Local Georgia state director Kristin Nabers stressed in a statement that "the conspiracy theories and lies that dictate White House policy have real-world consequences beyond appeasing the president's fragile ego—they are being weaponized to target the people from our communities who run our elections and ensure our votes are counted."
"This is a clear attempt to seize and hold power over our elections by sending a message that any county or state that doesn't vote in favor of the president or his preferred candidates may be subjected to a harassment campaign like that of Fulton County," she continued. "This intimidation tactic is a slap in the face to the millions of county election workers and volunteers around the country who work tirelessly to make sure our elections run smoothly."
Nabers added that "the all-out assault on Fulton County and its poll workers creates a blueprint for the administration to see what it can get away with during the midterm elections when results in key counties and states don't go its way. Election workers in Fulton County and beyond will not be intimidated by this desperate bullying."
The fight in Fulton County—where Trump and others initially faced criminal charges for their effort to overturn his 2020 loss—comes as some primary elections are underway across the country, and amid mounting concerns about what the president may try in November, particularly if the GOP-controlled Congress passes the attack on voting rights that the White House is pushing.
Michael McNulty, policy director of the group Issue One, said Tuesday that "Americans should be furious" about Trump's demands in Georgia, which "are based solely on debunked conspiracy theories from 2020 that courts and post-election audits have repeatedly rejected."
"Targeting these heroic election workers does nothing to strengthen our democracy—it puts ordinary public servants at risk in an attempt to erode trust in elections," he warned. “The Trump administration's goal is to make Americans feel distrust and cynicism about the election process. While the administration is framing its actions using the 2020 elections, it is proceeding with this year's midterms in mind."
As McNulty detailed, Trump's "election takeover playbook" includes:
- Spreading false claims to undermine confidence in elections;
- Installing loyalists within the executive branch willing to act on those claims; and
- Using executive power to pressure and intimidate those who actually run our elections.
"If this playbook is left unchecked, the Trump administration will continue to abuse its power and attempt to meddle in elections like authoritarian leaders in other countries," he said. "Congress must stop this."
"It should use oversight and funding authority to halt the executive branch from weaponizing federal power against the heroes who run our elections," McNulty argued. "Members of Congress swore an oath to the Constitution when they agreed to serve, and now is a test of whether they are willing to live up to that oath and protect the American people."
Some members of Congress joined voting rights advocates in speaking out against the subpoena this week. Sharing the Times report on social media Tuesday, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) declared that "Trump's attacks on our free and fair elections won't stop."
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Rights Groups Urge Court to Prevent Trump DOJ From Misusing Voter Files Seized in Georgia
“We have very serious concerns about what the Trump administration could do with the voting records of thousands of people from Fulton County."
Feb 16, 2026
Civil rights organizations are demanding that a federal court place restrictions on the Trump administration's use of materials seizedduring its unprecedented raid on an elections center in Fulton County, Georgia in January.
Five groups—the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the NAACP, the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, the Atlanta branch of the NAACP, and the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda—on Monday asked the Atlanta Division of the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia to bar the administration from using any materials seized from the Fulton County Election Hub and Operations center for anything other than the criminal investigation outlined in the search warrant used to justify the raid.
Among other things, this would bar the administration from using materials taken from the center for voter roll maintenance, election administration, or the enforcement of federal immigration laws.
The groups argued the constraints are necessary to enforce "statutory protections for the right to vote, voter privacy, and ballot secrecy, which are fundamentally critical given the unprecedented assaults on the administration of elections."
Additionally, the groups asked the court to force the administration to create and publicly disclose a full inventory of materials seized from the voting center, as well as a catalog of all people who have accessed the materials during the investigation.
Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, claimed that the seizure of materials related to the 2020 presidential election was a continuation of Trump's years-long quest to overturn his loss to former President Joe Biden.
Hewitt also warned the raid on the Fulton County elections center should be seen as part of an assault on voter rights throughout the US.
"These actions are part of a larger pattern," he explained. "We are witnessing a broad-scale assault on fair elections on many fronts, from going after voting records and squeezing out Black voters through redistricting, to improperly purging voters from the rolls and making it harder for everyone to vote. Some have called what we are witnessing a ‘soft coup’. Whatever we call it, we must all understand that our democracy is at risk."
Robert Weiner, director of the voting rights project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said the seizure of materials raised major privacy issues for Fulton County voters.
"We have very serious concerns about what the Trump administration could do with the voting records of thousands of people from Fulton County," said Weiner. "We are talking about sensitive private information. After the DOGE disaster, voters need to be confident their private information is in safe and trustworthy hands."
The FBI last month executed a search warrant at the Fulton County election center that allowed federal agents to seize 2020 election ballots, tabulator tapes, digital data, and voter rolls.
Shortly after the raid, Fulton County Commissioner Mo Ivory predicted that this kind of operation would likely be spreading to other counties and states.
“Fulton County is right now the target," Ivory said. "But it is coming to a place near you. This is the beginning of the chaos of 2026 that is about to ensue."
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'Beginning of the Chaos': FBI Raid in Georgia Seen as Ominous Sign of Trump Plans for 2026 Midterms
"This should have people across the country absolutely shook," said Sen. Jon Ossoff.
Jan 29, 2026
The FBI's Wednesday raid on an elections center in Fulton County, Georgia is raising alarms about President Donald Trump's plans to disrupt the 2026 midterm elections.
Shortly after FBI agents executed a search warrant at the Fulton County Election Hub and Operations center to search for materials related to the 2020 presidential election, Fulton County Commissioner Mo Ivory warned that this kind of operation would likely be spreading to other counties and states.
"Fulton County is right now the target, the only county right now fighting over an election that already happened," she said, referring to Trump's election loss that he has refused to concede more than five years after it happened. "But it is coming to a place near you. This is the beginning of the chaos of 2026 that is about to ensue."
Commissioner Mo Ivory: Fulton County is right now the target, the only county right now fighting over an election that already happened. But it is coming to a place near you. This is the beginning of the chaos of 2026 that is about to ensue. pic.twitter.com/0HvPMMoQO8
— Blue Georgia (@BlueATLGeorgia) January 28, 2026
In a Wednesday interview on MSNOW, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) described the raid on the elections center as a "seismic event" that should be a flashing red light for US voters.
"This should have people across the country absolutely shook," Ossoff said. "This is a huge deal. This is an FBI raid on the Fulton County Elections office. [Trump's] conspiracy theories about the 2020 election have been based in Georgia from the very start... this is a shot across the bow at the midterm elections. He tried to steal power when he lost it in 2020. We have to be prepared for all kinds of schemes and shenanigans."
Ossoff: "This is a seismic event. This should have people across the country absolutely shook. This is a huge deal. This is an FBI raid on the Fulton County Elections office ... This is a shot across the bow at the midterm elections. He tried to steal power when he lost it in… pic.twitter.com/vb8YwcP3Pa
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 29, 2026
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) noted that US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was spotted at the elections center during the FBI raid, which he said was wholly unprecedented given that her job is supposed to be focused on foreign national security threats.
Warner then posited two explanations for her presence on the ground in Fulton County.
"Director Gabbard believes there was a legitimate foreign intelligence nexus," Warner wrote in a social media post, "in which case she is in clear violation of her obligation under the law to keep the intelligence committees 'fully and currently informed' of relevant national security concerns."
The other option, said Warner, is that Gabbard "is once again demonstrating her utter lack of fitness for the office that she holds by injecting the nonpartisan intelligence community she is supposed to be leading into a domestic political stunt designed to legitimize conspiracy theories that undermine our democracy."
ProPublica published a report on Thursday that dove into the specifics of the search warrant executed at the Fulton County election center that allowed federal agents to seize 2020 election ballots, tabulator tapes, digital data, and voter rolls.
Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, told ProPublica that he has never seen a search warrant of this nature.
"The idea that federal officials would seize ballots in an attempt to prove fraud is especially dangerous in this context," said Hasen, "when we know there is no fraud because the Georgia 2020 election has been extensively counted, recounted, and investigated."
Derek Clinger, a senior counsel at the State Democracy Research Initiative, an institute at the University of Wisconsin Law School, told ProPublica that the sweeping search warrant marked "a dramatic escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to expand federal control over our country’s historically state-run election infrastructure."
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