Federal Court Hears Fulton County’s Request to Force DOJ to Return 2020 Election Records

Lawyers for Fulton County, Georgia, criticized the FBI’s investigation of alleged improprieties related to the 2020 presidential election and seizure of election records at a federal court hearing in Atlanta on March 27.

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys disputed the arguments of the county and said there was no reason for the court to order the agency to return the original documents.

Their remarks came at a hearing before Judge J.P. Boulee of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, at which the county urged the court to compel the FBI to return about 700 boxes of ballots and other material the agency carted away. The material was seized on Jan. 28 from the Fulton County Election Hub in Fairburn, Georgia, outside Atlanta, under the authority of a judicially issued search warrant.

The FBI said it took custody of the evidence as part of an investigation into alleged irregularities during the 2020 election.

Robb Pitts, chairman of the Fulton County board of commissioners, filed a motion last month that sought the return of the seized election materials.

At the March 27 hearing, the county’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, told Boulee that the search during which the documents were taken was “unusual” because it concerned a past election and allegations that were already investigated in the years following the election.

Lowell argued that the Trump administration seized the materials as it grew impatient with litigation the DOJ filed in 2025 seeking them.

“There’s abundant law that the left hand of the department needs to know what the right hand is doing,” the lawyer said.

DOJ attorney Michael Weisbuch said that the document-seeking litigation wasn’t “relevant in any respect.”

He said the administration has furnished the county with digital copies of everything that was taken and that it requires the original documents to move forward with its investigation.

Elections expert Ryan Macias, who advised the county in 2020, told Boulee that the DOJ’s evidence was not “based in reality.”

Macias said an affidavit that an FBI agent used to secure the search warrant “does not make sense” and depends on witnesses “who don’t know how elections are conducted.”

Boulee seemed skeptical of some of the county’s arguments, calling into question whether the county had demonstrated that it needed to take custody of original copies of the material.

The FBI affidavit included some “contrary information,” including summaries of prior reports that said there was no evidence of intentional wrongdoing or fraud, the judge said.

Boulee asked how far the affidavit has to go in including information that goes against the FBI’s case, challenging the county’s argument that the document left out important facts.

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Tysen Duva told Boulee that the county faces a high legal hurdle to prove that the search was improper.

Duva characterized Macias’s testimony as a disagreement about the evidence and said the expert witness who was put on the stand by the county was not involved in the FBI’s investigation.

“There is enough in this affidavit to stand,” the attorney said.

County attorneys previously said in a court filing that the search was “improper and unjustified,” that it showed “callous disregard” of the county’s rights under the U.S. Constitution, and that it was based on debunked allegations.

“Despite years of investigations of the 2020 election,” the FBI has not “identified facts that establish probable cause that anyone committed a crime,” they said.

In a court filing, county attorneys said the DOJ is trying to “set a precedent that would grant the federal government unchecked power to interfere with the local administration of elections.”

DOJ lawyers said in a court filing that it is “clear” that county officials are attempting “to disrupt an ongoing federal criminal investigation.”

President Donald Trump has long argued that election irregularities contributed to his loss in Georgia in the 2020 presidential election.

Trump said on Feb. 3 that some states and cities, such as Atlanta, which is largely within Fulton County, have “horrible corruption on elections, and the federal government should not allow that.”

It is unclear when Boulee will issue a ruling.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.