2026-03-05T10:00:35.072Z / 美国有线电视新闻网(CNN)
对于全国大多数选举管理人员而言，联邦调查局(FBI)近期搜查亚特兰大地区2020年选票的举动令人震惊。但对于佐治亚州选举委员会的一些成员来说，这次搜查却是一个令人欢迎的进展。
由委员会副主席贾尼斯·约翰斯顿(Janice Johnston)领导的保守派多数派，一直坚持不懈地追查唐纳德·特朗普在2020年总统选举中败选的欺诈理论。约翰斯顿是一名退休产科医生，根据法庭文件，她在2021年之前没有任何选举工作经验。
在自行传票传唤了富尔顿县的一些选举记录后，该委员会去年邀请了司法部的协助，这本身就引发了特朗普政府在12月提起的民事诉讼，随后才通过联邦刑事调查获得搜查令。
约翰斯顿和另一位与”让美国再次伟大”(MAGA)理念结盟的委员会成员——前媒体人士贾妮尔·金(Janelle King)，作为FBI申请中引用的证人，他们在申请中为搜查记录提供了理由。其他频繁出现在委员会面前、声称2020年选举存在问题的选举否认者也在其中。
搜查进行时，约翰斯顿、另一位共和党委员会成员以及唯一的民主党成员在设施外观察FBI收集选票的过程。前民主党委员会成员大卫·沃利(David Worley)称，约翰斯顿甚至在被告知搜查期间不能进入内部储藏室时提出异议，坚称”这是我们的传票”。
另一位在场的消息人士听到约翰斯顿在电话中说，FBI”应该直接拿走所有700箱选举记录”（法庭文件显示FBI实际查获了656箱）。
约翰斯顿和金未回应CNN就此事的置评请求，但他们对FBI的行动表示赞赏，同时坚称自己事先对此次搜查并不知情。
另一位共和党委员会成员萨利·格鲁布斯(Salleigh Grubbs)表示：”这些问题早就该进行调查了。”她在今年加入州委员会之前，就曾宣扬2020年存在投票操纵的理论。
同样在搜查期间在场的另一位共和党委员会成员格鲁布斯告诉CNN，她没有与联邦政府就此次搜查进行过沟通，但表示”有人采取了积极步骤获取相关资料，这很棒”。
在司法部介入之前，这个保守派州委员会多年来一直与民主党控制的县就2020年选举处理问题发生争执。共和党政客呼吁州委员会接管富尔顿县的选举管理工作，而富尔顿县是佐治亚州最大的县，也是特朗普2020年逆转计划的主要目标。
佐治亚州是几个2020年选举怀疑论者进入州和地方政府的州之一，尽管多次审查证实选举结果，他们仍继续质疑特朗普的败选。随着特朗普推动其政府采取广泛且法律上存疑的行动，更深入地介入选举管理，富尔顿县的选票搜查显示，这种努力可以利用那些已在选举管理官僚体系中根深蒂固的选举否认者的工作成果。
“共和党人应该说，’我们要接管’，”特朗普上月告诉《纽约时报》，”我们应该接管至少15个地方的投票工作。共和党人应该将选举国有化。”
FBI的搜查令申请基于佐治亚州选举委员会长期以来关注的选举违规指控。选举记录中确实存在一些差异，但州当局审查发现这些差异是行政错误导致，而非故意渎职。FBI的搜查令并未提出这些所谓违规行为会改变总统选举结果的证据——司法部在法庭文件中称，这一点”与是否存在犯罪可能的合理依据无关”。
“重新利用这些被揭穿的说法并通过司法部传播，会将联邦权力变成攻击合法选举合法性的工具，”公平斗争行动(Fair Fight Action)发言人马克斯·弗拉格拉特(Max Flugrath)表示。该组织由失败的民主党州长候选人斯泰西·亚当斯(Stacey Adams)创立，专注于该州的投票权问题。
富尔顿县已提起诉讼，要求归还被查获的材料。联邦法官上周指示该县和司法部通过调解寻求妥协方案。
就在搜查令发出前一周，FBI在搜查令中引用的一名证人出现在州委员会面前，重申了他对富尔顿县记录中重复选票图像的怀疑，认为2020年计票存在欺诈。这一说法也是FBI调查的重点。
向委员会提出指控的证人约瑟夫·罗西(Joseph Rossi)在2022年提交了申诉，他指责州官员错过了在”此事提交给司法部之前”查明其指控的机会。
罗西在接受CNN采访时拒绝对他与司法部的互动置评，但他吹嘘佐治亚州州长2021年的一份报告同意他对富尔顿县审计记录中差异的部分分析，并告诉CNN”一切都在司法部手中”。
选举官员承认，由于人为错误，一些选票可能被重复扫描，但佐治亚州国务卿2024年的部分证实罗西投诉的审查仍坚持2020年选举结果总体准确，指出结果经过手工重新计票得到确认。
虽然FBI搜查令申请中的许多说法对关注州选举委员会的人来说并不陌生，但这份宣誓书特别没有提到外国干预的指控——这一指控在过去五年的佐治亚州法庭上一直被讨论，这也可能解释为何国家情报总监图尔西·加巴德(Tulsi Gabbard)前往亚特兰大参与搜查。
消息人士称，在FBI限制进入存放选票房间的人员时，加巴德——房间里唯一的非FBI联邦官员——显得尤为突出。
加巴德为自己参与搜查辩护，称特朗普已责成她的办公室处理选举完整性问题。她的办公室还对波多黎各的选举基础设施进行了审查，以发现外国入侵的漏洞。
消息人士告诉CNN，州选举官员和国会议员越来越担心，加巴德将利用她在美国情报界的职位编造一个叙事，声称外国势力已渗透美国投票系统，从而影响未来选举结果。
她的办公室指出，她拥有”协调、整合和分析与选举安全相关的情报的广泛法定权力”，以及”我们在了解外国和其他恶意干预漏洞方面的已知工作”。
FBI的宣誓书在解封后显示，另一位著名的选举否认者——现在在联邦政府任职——在此次搜查中发挥了关键作用。库尔特·奥尔森(Kurt Olsen)目前担任白宫选举安全与完整性主任，正是他从这一职位上推动了对富尔顿县的调查。
白宫拒绝对奥尔森与佐治亚州的关系置评。
在获得白宫职位之前，奥尔森代表迪卡尔布县共和党提起了一场不成功的诉讼，该诉讼暗示2020年选举存在”恶意”入侵，并试图因所谓漏洞而取消佐治亚州使用的投票机类型认证。
该县共和党在诉讼中提出的一名专家证人，现在是特朗普政府的临时联邦雇员，并提供了FBI在搜查申请中依赖的分析。该证人克莱·帕里克(Clay Parikh)此前曾出现在州选举委员会，声称佐治亚州投票系统存在漏洞。
（帕里克未回应CNN的置评请求，但在接受《谈话要点备忘录》采访时拒绝讨论其政府角色，称2020年选举是”联邦叛乱”，并断言佐治亚州有31.5万张”伪造的选票”。）
司法部用来证明扣押选举材料合法性的联邦法律之一要求，选举官员需将投票记录保存22个月——2020年选举的记录应于2022年9月到期。
这些记录之所以仍保存在佐治亚州，是因为该州持续不断的诉讼导致记录未被销毁。就在FBI搜查选票前一个月，州法院法官支持了州委员会，拒绝阻止其传票传唤富尔顿县投票记录，但有一个条件：他要求州委员会而非富尔顿县纳税人支付约40万美元的文件复制费用。
富尔顿县指出，除其他原因外，司法部扣押材料是不合适的。其法庭文件还强调了特朗普最近的言论，即他的FBI已获取富尔顿县”不公正的选票”，以及州委员会即将接管富尔顿县选举工作的威胁。
“没有选票，原告无法反驳虚假叙事，且有被州或联邦政府剥夺管理富尔顿县选举能力的风险，”富尔顿县表示。
但该委员会未能说服联邦法官立即介入。美国地区法官J.P.布利(J.P. Boulee)上周表示，他放弃了举行听证会的计划（原计划中可能有FBI探员出庭作证的机会），因为判例法要求在纠纷中遵循”妥协”精神，允许政府保留记录副本，同时将原件归还该县。他给了双方3月18日前通过调解寻求解决方案的期限。
在周五的听证会上，法官鼓励司法部在调解期间不要查看被扣押的选票，因为FBI最终可能必须归还这些材料，但他没有发布禁止这种审查的命令。
根据CNN获得的庭审记录，布利表示，如果调解失败，他将在必要时举行辩论并听取证据。”我真的认为这不会发生，”他说。
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How the MAGA-ified Georgia elections board gave Trump a blueprint for seizing Atlanta’s 2020 ballots
2026-03-05T10:00:35.072Z / CNN
For most election administrators around the country, the FBI’s recent seizure of 2020 Atlanta-area ballots was shocking. But for some members of the Georgia State Election Board, the search was a welcome development.
Led by the commission’s vice chair, Janice Johnston – a retired obstetrician who, according to court filings, had no experience working elections prior to 2021 – the board’s conservative majority has been relentlessly pursuing fraud theories about Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election.
After subpoenaing some of the Fulton County election records themselves, the board invited the Justice Department’s assistance last year, itself, resulting in a Trump administration civil lawsuit in December that preceded the search warrant secured through a federal criminal probe.
Johnston and another MAGA-aligned board member, former media personality Janelle King, were witnesses cited by the FBI in its application to justify seizing the records, as were other election deniers who have made frequent appearances before the board to allege a tainted 2020 result.
Once the search was underway, Johnston, another Republican board member, as well as its sole Democrat, watched outside the facility from where the FBI collected ballots. She even objected when she was told she could not enter the inner storage room while the search was being executed, arguing that “it’s our subpoena,” according to David Worley, a former Democratic board member who was also there.
Another source present during the search overheard Johnston, say on the phone that the FBI “should take just take all 700 boxes” of election records. (The FBI seized 656 boxes, according to court filings.)
Johnston and King, who did not respond to CNN inquiries for the story, have praised the FBI’s move, while insisting they had no advance knowledge of the search.
“It’s way past time for these matters to have been investigated,” said another Republican board member, Salleigh Grubbs, who pushed theories of 2020 vote tampering before joining the state board this year.
Grubbs, the other Republican board member present outside the warehouse during the search, told CNN she had not been in touch with the federal government about the search, but said it was “great” that “somebody has taken a proactive step to gain access.”
Prior to the Justice Department’s involvement, the conservative state board had been feuding for years with the Democratic-controlled county over the handling of the 2020 vote. Republican politicians have called on the state board to take over election administration for Fulton County, Georgia’s largest county and a chief target of Trump’s 2020 reversal schemes.
Georgia is one of several states where 2020 election skeptics have ascended to state and local government perches, from where they have continued to cast doubt on Trump’s defeat, despite numerous reviews confirming the outcome. As Trump has pushed his administration into taking sweeping and legally dubious actions to get more involved in election administration, the Fulton County ballot seizure shows how that effort can piggyback on the work of election deniers who have enmeshed themselves within the bureaucracy of running elections.
“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over,’” Trump told The New York Times last month. “We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many — 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”
The FBI’s search warrant application was built around claims of election irregularities that have long been a fixation of the Georgia State Election Board. There were some discrepancies in the election records, but the reviews by state authorities have found they were the result of administrative error and not intentional malfeasance. The FBI’s warrant did not put forward evidence that the alleged irregularities would have changed the presidential outcome – a point the Justice Department said in court filings was “irrelevant” to whether there was probable cause of a crime.
“Recycling those debunked claims and running them through the Justice Department turns federal power into a tool for attacking the legitimacy of lawful elections,” said Max Flugrath, a spokesperson for Fair Fight Action, the political organization founded by failed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Adams that’s focused on voting rights in the state.
Fulton County has filed a lawsuit seeking the return of the seized materials, and a federal judge last week directed the county and the Justice Department to pursue mediation to find a compromise solution.
Just a week before the seizure, one of the witnesses the FBI cited in its warrant appeared before the state board to reiterate his suspicions of a fraudulent 2020 count based on duplicate ballot images in Fulton County’s records. The claim is also a focus of the FBI probe.
The witness, Joseph Rossi, who filed a complaint with the board in 2022 raising the allegation, chastised state officials for missing the opportunity to get to bottom of his allegations “prior to this going to the DOJ.”
Rossi, reached by CNN, declined to comment on his interactions with the Justice Department, but touted a 2021 report by Georgia’s governor agreeing with some of his analysis about discrepancies in Fulton County’s audit records and told CNN that it’s “all in the hands of the DOJ.”
Election officials acknowledged some of the ballots may have been double-scanned due to human error, but a 2024 review by Georgia’s secretary of state that partially substantiated Ross’ complaint nonetheless stood by the overall accuracy of the 2020 results, noting the outcome was confirmed with a hand recount.
While many claims in the FBI’s warrant application were familiar to those who follow the state election board, the affidavit notably made no claims of foreign interference – an allegation that has gotten play in Georgia courtrooms over the last five years – that could have explained why Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard traveled to Atlanta for the search.
With the FBI limiting who was allowed in the room holding the ballots during the search, Gabbard – the only non-FBI federal official in the room – stood out, sources said.
Gabbard has defended her involvement in the search and says that Trump has tasked her office with working on election integrity. Her office has also conducted a review of Puerto Rico’s election infrastructure for vulnerabilities to foreign intrusion.
State election officials and members of Congress are increasingly concerned that Gabbard is poised to use her position atop the US intelligence community to spin a narrative that foreign actors have compromised US voting systems and, thus, tainted the results of future elections, sources told CNN.
Her office has pointed to the “broad statutory authority” she has “to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security” and “our known work on understanding vulnerabilities to foreign and other malign interference.”
The FBI’s affidavit, once it was unsealed, revealed that another prominent election denier, now serving in the federal government, played a key role in the search. Kurt Olsen, who was deeply involved in some of the most bombastic plots to overturn the 2020 results, made the referral that launched the Fulton County probe from his current perch as White House director of election security and integrity.
The White House declined to comment on Olsen’s Georgia ties.
Prior to his White House gig, Olsen represented the DeKalb County Republican Party in an unsuccessful lawsuit that raised the specter of a “malicious” intrusion into the 2020 election while seeking decertification of the types of voting machines used in Georgia because of alleged vulnerabilities.
An expert witness the county GOP put forward in the case is now working as a temporary federal employee for the Trump administration and offered an analysis that the FBI relied up on in its search application. The witness, Clay Parikh, had previously appeared before the state election board to allege vulnerabilities in Georgia’s voting systems.
(Parikh could not be reached by CNN, but he declined to discuss his government role in an extraordinary interview last month with Talking Points Memo, in which he referred to the 2020 election as the “fedsurrection” and asserted that 315,000 ballots that “were fabricated” in Georgia.)
One of the federal laws the Justice Department is citing to justify seizing the election materials requires that election officials preserve voting records for 22 months after an election – a requirement that for the 2020 election would have expired in September 2022.
That the records still exist in Georgia is a result of the non-stop litigation in the Peach State over how the 2020 count was handled. Just a month before FBI’s seizure of the ballots, a state court judge sided with the state board, declining to block its subpoena of the Fulton County voting records, but with a caveat. His order said he would require the state board – rather than Fulton County taxpayers – pony up the roughly $400,000 it would cost to copy the documents for the subpoena.
Fulton County has pointed to that litigation, among other reasons, to argue it was improper for the Justice Department to seize the materials. Its court filings have also highlighted recent Trump comments that his FBI had obtained Fulton County’s “crooked ballots,” as well as a looming threat that the state board is poised take over Fulton County election operations.
“Without the ballots, Petitioners cannot rebut false narratives and are at risk of the state or federal government stripping them of the ability to administer Fulton County’s elections,” Fulton County said.
But the board was unable to convince a federal judge to jump in immediately. US District Judge J.P. Boulee said last week that he was abandoning plans to hold an evidentiary hearing – where there was potential for live testimony from the FBI agent who wrote the affidavit – because, he said, case law instructed a “spirit” of “compromise” in the dispute that would allow the government to keep copies of the records while giving the originals back to the county. He gave the parties until March 18 to try to work on such a solution via mediation.
At a hearing Friday, the judge encouraged the Justice Department to refrain from looking through the seized ballots while mediation was underway, given the risk that the FBI might ultimately have to return the materials, but he did not issue an order prohibiting that review.
According to a transcript obtained by CNN, Boulee said that if mediation were to fail, he intended on holding arguments and taking evidence if necessary. “I really don’t think it should come to that,” he said.
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