Trump DOJ must reveal details on Fulton County ballot seizure, judge orders

A federal judge Thursday ordered the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to turn over key details behind its seizure of 2020 election records in Fulton County, Georgia — rejecting the government’s effort to keep that information secret.

U.S. District Judge Jean-Paul Boulee issued an order requiring DOJ to disclose basic factual information about the origins of its criminal investigation — including when it began and when officials took key steps toward obtaining a search warrant.  

The case stems from an unprecedented federal raid on a local election office years after the 2020 election, part of a broader push by the Trump DOJ to investigate alleged irregularities driven by election denial conspiracies.

Specifically, the department must provide a timeline of when a referral by election denier Kurt Olsen, a White House adviser, was made to the FBI, when the FBI opened its investigation, and when DOJ began drafting the affidavit used to secure the warrant. 

The court gave DOJ until Friday afternoon to respond.  

The ruling marks a significant setback for DOJ, which had argued the information was irrelevant, untimely to request and protected by privilege.

The court disagreed.

In a sharply worded order, Boulee found that DOJ’s refusal to provide the dates lacked a rational basis and was “arbitrary and capricious,” noting that the requests sought only “a small amount of information” that should be straightforward to answer.  

At the same time, the judge declined to compel disclosure of other information sought by Fulton County — including whether DOJ officials discussed using a criminal warrant in response to delays in related civil litigation — finding those internal deliberations could be protected by privilege.

The timeline at issue is central to Fulton County’s challenge to the FBI’s January seizure of more than 600 boxes of election materials, including original ballots.

County officials have argued the search warrant was “pretextual,” alleging DOJ turned to criminal process to obtain records it had already been seeking through slow-moving civil litigation.

The newly ordered disclosures could help test that claim.

Public statements by DOJ officials have also drawn attention in the case. 

Fulton County has previously cited comments from Civil Rights Division head Harmeet Dhillon — who initially sued Fulton County for the records later seized by the FBI — to support its claim that the raid was intended as an end-run around the civil litigation.

Now, the department will have to provide at least part of that timeline directly.

The parties may submit additional briefing after DOJ’s response, with deadlines set for early May. Boulee has not yet ruled on whether the seized records must be returned.