FBI seizure of Fulton County election ballots happened quickly after criminal probe opened, new timeline shows

Source: CNN Politics

Updated May 2, 2026, 10:27 PM ET
PUBLISHED May 2, 2026, 9:37 PM ET


The FBI seized 2020 election materials from Georgia just a few weeks after opening a criminal probe, an unusually fast pace for a case of its kind, experts told CNN.

The newly released timeline, filed on Friday, was provided by the Justice Department following an order from District Judge Jean-Paul Boulee, who asked the DOJ to give further information on the inception of the FBI’s criminal investigation into the Fulton County elections facility.

Fulton County officials have suggested in court filings the criminal investigation appears to be a “pretext to acquire records that this Administration was unable to quickly secure via the civil litigation process.”. But the Justice Department has argued that theory is “nonsensical for multiple reasons” and that the county had not met the high bar required for ordering the seized materials be returned.

The department has also argued in court filings that the federal government “used criminal process to get the records—a higher burden than obtaining them through civil process.” Weeks of proceedings in the ongoing lawsuit — filed by Futon County officials seeking the return of ballot materials — predate the timeline release. And the federal government’s previous civil litigation began last year.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/02/politics/timeline-fbi-criminal-probe-seizure-fulton-county-ballots