Body camera video of the FBI raid on the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center reveals rampant confusion around a search warrant.
The video that was posted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution begins with an officer asking local officials if anyone saw a search warrant and the responses were "no."
The exclusive report from the AJC cites county attorney Soo Jo telling officials who raised questions about the warrant that the situation was "screwed up" and "we'll fight all that later."
“Right now, we are complying. Let them do their thing,” Jo said.
The raid, which unfolded on January 28, sought voting information about the 2020 election, which President Donald Trump lost.
"County officials have said they were not given advance notice and that the warrant remains sealed," reported AJC. Yet when officials began demanding a warrant, one was produced.
"The FBI has confirmed the search but has not publicly detailed the scope of the investigation. As more details emerge, questions remain about what triggered the raid and what it could mean moving forward," AJC said.
The video shows the officer whipping out a pad and pen to write down the names of "everybody who was out here."
"I mean, if they refuse, that's on them," the officer is overheard saying.
Peter Ellis, the acting special agent from the FBI Atlanta office, is seen shaking hands with the officer before telling him that they have a search warrant "for the entire location."
The officer asks Ellis if it was in regard to "election stuff," and Ellis refuses to say.
Fulton County Elections Director Nadine Williams alleged on video that the warrant was "wrong." She explained that the information they're seeking isn't in the elections office's possession, but in the county clerk's.
"So, it had the wrong department," Williams said.
"The warrant will be amended slightly. But for all intents and purposes, what they had is what it's going to look like," said a man wearing a bullet-proof vest reading FBI.
Fulton’s clerk of courts, Che Alexander, said that the agents' behavior was "rude."
The men demanded the 2020 election ballots. Alexander said she was willing to unlock the storage cages but didn't want to hand over personal information without knowing “what it is you’re looking for so you’re not taking other stuff.”
The agents said that they would break the lock and take whatever they wanted.
"We wanted to facilitate her letting us move through the buildings. To unlock the gates so that we don't have to breach it because we got one way or the other, the records are coming with us today," the man in the vest continued.
“I want to remind you that this is a criminal search warrant and this location is kind of restricted at this point, respectfully,” an agent said.
“We have the right to be here. We’ve been very nice," Ellis followed up.
The AJC summarized that it became clear the agents were prepared to take all of "the records by force if they had to."
“I think they think we destroyed the ballots, but we didn’t,” Williams said at one point in the video. “If you want to take 700 boxes of ballots, have at it. So they can go make paper airplanes for all I care.”
Several election audits confirmed that Trump lost Georgia's election. At one point, he calls GOP lawmakers in the state demanding that they find him 11,780 votes. While at the World Economic Forum, Trump declared that people would “soon be prosecuted for what they did” in 2020.
