A woman wearing a MAGA hat at a "Latinos for Trump" event in Kissimmee, Florida on January 16, 2020 (Image: Shutterstock)
One week after President Donald Trump sent FBI agents to seize Fulton County’s 2020 ballots as part of a criminal probe, a Georgia judge has apparently had it up to here with Trump-style election deniers.
“The 2020 election is over,” said Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, dismissing Trump-supporters’ lawsuit and effort to review ballots and materials they allege would prove Trump should have won Georgia.
On top of tossing the suit, the judge ordered the four plaintiffs — consisting of a treasure hunter and members of a Georgia affiliate of the Tea Party Patriots — to pay nearly $40,000 to Fulton County and the county Superior Court clerk’s office for filing the frivolous suit.
McBurney ruled the lawsuit “presented zero factual or legal questions” concerning the county’s liability for certain claims and gave the plaintiffs until Monday to pay the attorney fees.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) reports McBurney's ruling is the “latest twist” in a long-running legal battle that centers on allegations of voting fraud in the 2020 election. Lead plaintiff Garland Favorito has become an influential figure among a group of Georgians who are convinced that fraud cost Trump the election, despite countless state and federal investigations finding no evidence of significant fraud in 2020. Then-President Joe Biden’s victory was confirmed by two recounts, including a hand count of every ballot.
One of Favorito’s consultants reviewing ballot images was Jovan Pulitzer, an inventor and scavenger who the AJC reports as having once “searched for the Ark of the Covenant.” Another face behind the fight was Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who joined Pulitzer in spreading election fraud conspiracies during a state Senate hearing at the Georgia Capitol.
“An attorney for Favorito, Todd Harding, has been involved in at least three other lawsuits alleging fraud in Georgia’s November and January U.S. Senate elections,” AJC reported in 2021.
“This is nothing more than a circus that’s being put on by those who promote the ’big lie’ that Trump won the election,” Fulton Commission Chairman Robb Pitts said in 2021. “Where does it end? The votes have been counted. The elections have been certified. It’s over.”
But even today, it apparently is not over because Trump has sent his politicized FBI to investigate and count ballots on their own under the cover of a federal warehouse.