Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard speaks on the phone while standing at the edge of a truck loading bay after the FBI executed a search warrant for the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center in relation to the 2020 election, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the matter, in Union City, Georgia, Jan. 28, 2026.
Elijah Nouvelage | Reuters
A referral by former Trump campaign lawyer Kurt Olsen led to the recent FBI raid that seized 2020 election ballots from a Fulton County, Georgia, elections center, a newly unsealed federal court document revealed Tuesday.
The document, an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Hugh Raymond Evans, said that the FBI is conducting a “criminal investigation into whether any of the improprieties” alleged to have occurred in voting processes and ballot counting in Fulton County in 2020 “were intentional acts that violated federal criminal laws.”
“The FBI criminal investigation originated from a referral sent by Kurt Olsen, Presidentially appointed Director of Election Security and Integrity,” the affidavit document in U.S. District Court in Atlanta says.
Olsen worked on efforts after the 2020 election to overturn President Donald Trump’s loss in that contest to former President Joe Biden.
Evans’ affidavit was submitted by federal prosecutors as they asked a federal magistrate judge to sign a search warrant for the election center. Olsen reportedly was hired last fall to investigate election issues.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was present at the election center on Jan. 28 when FBI agents raided the site and seized ballots.
Gabbard’s presence, and the raid itself, has been strongly criticized by Democratic lawmakers and others concerned that President Donald Trump is undercutting confidence in the upcoming midterm elections while resurrecting long-discredited claims that he actually won the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
The warrant signed by the magistrate judge authorized the FBI to seize all physical ballots from the 2020 general election in Fulton County, including absentee ballots; tabulator tapes for every voting machine; and the vote rolls from the county.
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