United States Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard steps out of a vehicle outside the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center, January 28, 2026. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage
Georgia lawyer Michael J. Moore fears that the FBI raid on the Atlanta elections office has an end goal of the federal government taking over elections.
Speaking to Moore on Thursday, CNN host Pamela Brown cited President Donald Trump's posting spree in the early hours of Thursday morning during which he repeated the conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen by Democrats.
Moore, who was once the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, said that the raid wasn't exclusively about Trump's desperation to change the results of the 2020 election.
"I would tell you that I think this has nothing to do with trying to find out anything about the 2020 election," Moore began. "I think this is really just a big ruse by the administration, both to divert attention away and to really sort of fabricate an excuse for what I see as a fear of more federal involvement. And maybe in some cases, I don't want to call it a federal takeover of the elections, but really sort of an effort by the federal government to control elections. That's been a goal of this administration for some time."
He pointed out that the Justice Department's reasoning concerns the 2020 election, when the statute of limitations for federal crimes is typically about five years. That has expired, Moore said.
"There's really not much they can do unless they're going to allege that this has been some long, ongoing conspiracy or that there's been some reason to stop the statute of limitations," he continued.
"They had already filed a civil lawsuit that's pending in the federal court, asking that the ballots be turned over. They wanted the nonpublic information, which is odd too, because that has nothing to do with the voting. That's for getting people's Social Security numbers and other personal information," he said.
Moore noted there's a very "low bar" to get a search warrant.
"As I understand from the application of the warrant, one of the things that they have said is that the retention of records that they shouldn't have kept, which would be a fairly low, almost like getting a traffic ticket type offense in the federal court," said Moore. "And they can say they're holding ballots."
One thing he doesn't know is whether the Justice Department informed the judge that the ballots had been sealed by a state court judge, or that they targeted Fulton County in December.
"This isn't even ripe for a decision by a judge yet," he added.
Moore also said that there have been three audits and found no widespread fraud, according to a Republican U.S. attorney, the former Republican attorney general, the Republican governor and Republican secretary of state.
"So, basically, all of Trump's people at the time said there was nothing, that he did not win the state. But now he's got a Department of Justice and attorney general who he basically controls like a marionette," said Moore.
