Civil rights chief’s social media post may undercut DOJ case in Fulton County ballot seizure

The Trump Justice Department may have put its foot in it on social media — again.

A post on X from Civil Rights Division head Harmeet Dhillon is now being used in federal court as evidence that DOJ’s recent seizure of 2020 election ballots from Fulton County, Georgia was intended to circumvent ongoing litigation over the issue.

In a filing Monday, county attorneys pointed to a Feb. 6 post from Dhillon tying the push for election records to Fulton County’s resistance in the separate civil case, in which DOJ is suing the county for the records.

“Fulton County refused to cooperate with @CivilRights request for 2020 election-related documents, alas,” Dhillon posted on X — less than two weeks after the FBI executed a search warrant to seize more than 600 boxes of election materials, including original ballots. “@TheJusticeDept is committed to ensuring American elections are safe & secure!”

Fulton County attorneys argue the post directly undercuts the department’s position that the raid was part of an independent criminal investigation — and instead suggests it may have been used to bypass slower-moving civil litigation seeking the same records.

That claim could be pivotal in the case. During last week’s hearing, when U.S. District Judge Jean-Paul Boulee said it would be a “good argument” for Fulton County if the government used a search warrant simply to circumvent civil proceedings.

The county is now asking the court to force DOJ to turn over internal details about the probe, including when it began, when former Trump campaign lawyer Kurt Olsen referred it to the FBI, and whether officials discussed using a warrant to get around delays in the civil case, known as the Alexander case.

The dispute stems from the FBI’s January raid of a Fulton County election facility, an extraordinary move that transferred custody of original ballots from local officials to federal agents years after the 2020 election.

Fulton County argues the warrant relied on misinformation from election deniers and failed to establish probable cause. 

The DOJ maintains the seizure is part of an ongoing investigation into potential violations of federal election law.

Dhillon’s post is the latest example of the Civil Rights Division chief turning official government matters into social media content — sometimes with unforeseen consequences.

A longtime Trump ally and former paid “content creator,” Dhillon has repeatedly used her platform to publicize department activity, often revealing more than intended. 

In one recent instance, she appeared to disclose an active civil rights investigation which had not been formally announced.

The approach has helped define the Trump DOJ’s aggressive push into election-related enforcement — but it has also produced a string of embarrassing errors.