Fulton county accuses FBI of ‘callous disregard’ over ballot seizures

Lawyers say agency made misrepresentations in affidavit to obtain search warrant for January raid of election offices Lawyers arguing in federal court for the FBI to return Fulton county’s 2020 election records said the agency’s affidavit to obtain a search warrant relied on misrepresentations that rise to the legal standard of a “callous disregard” for the county’s rights. “The only element that turns the election into a crime is intent, and nothing in the affidavit shows intent,” Abbe Lowell, who is representing Fulton county, said during the Friday hearing at the Richard Russell courthouse in Atlanta. He argued that the FBI was pursuing crimes for which the statute of limitations has expired. On 28 January, FBI agents descended on Fulton county’s election offices and served a criminal warrant, seizing about 700 boxes of 2020 election documents. The seizure was part of the Trump administration’s campaign to delegitimize the results of the 2020 election and to cast doubt on the legitimacy of elections this year. The assertions made by FBI special agent Hugh Raymond Evans in the affidavit obtaining the criminal warrant were at question in the hearing. The affidavi