Lawyers representing Fulton County, Georgia, in the ballot seizure case ripped into the U.S. Attorney appointed by the Trump administration, per a new filing released Wednesday evening, accusing him of an "abrupt flip-flop" and other shifts that have impeded the flow of the case.
The filing was submitted to the U.S. District Court of Northern Georgia's Atlanta division by Fulton County's legal team. Among other things, it accused U.S. Attorney Thomas Albus, a St. Louis-based prosecutor tipped to handle the case by Donald Trump's Justice Department, of reversing his promises about returning the original ballots seized and allowing an FBI agent to testify, as explained by Josh Gerstein, a senior legal reporter for Politico.
"Fulton County lawyers claim 'abrupt flip-flop[s]' by specially-designated prosecutor Tom Albus in 2020-ballot-seizure case, including whether FBI agent would testify and whether original ballots could be returned to local officials," Gerstein wrote in a post to X.
Fulton County is suing the federal government for the return of 2020 ballots seized from an election center in Atlanta last month in an FBI raid. The Trump administration claimed that the seizures were part of an investigation into Trump's debunked claims of election fraud.
The filing primarily revolved around the Fulton County lawyers objecting to Albus's reversal on a promise to "expeditiously make copies of the seized election records, return the originals and a copy to Fulton County, and voluntarily stay its review of the copied records pending the Court’s final decision in this matter." Albus later "inexplicably withdrew that offer," which then required the court to "to set the matter down for an expedited hearing." He is now willing to turn over copies of the ballots, in exchange for Fulton County's case against the federal government getting dismissed.
"Respondent has since represented to the Court that returning the originals to [Fulton County]—and even allowing testimony in the very hearing it originally agreed to—would somehow compromise 'an ongoing criminal investigation,' despite its prior representations. Given [Albus's] prior stances, it is hard to make sense of its recent 'offer' to 'discuss' a 'copy.'"
This troublesome shift from Albus, the filing added, "came in the context of its abrupt flip-flop regarding the testimony of [FBI] Special Agent [Hugh] Evans." The Fulton County legal team had earlier this month asked Albus if Evans could give testimony at an evidentiary hearing, to which they claim Albus responded, "I can’t imagine that will be an issue and will give you a firm answer as soon as I can."
The lawyers claim they followed up multiple times about the matter over the course of days, but did not hear back. Albus then moved to quash Evans' giving testimony, "without conferring or notifying" them.
The lawyers suggested that Albus's move to go back on his previous offer about handing over the ballots is part of an effort to avoid a judicial review.
"To the extent that Respondent suggests it is now willing to 'discuss' giving Petitioners a copy of their own records (on the condition that they dismiss this action), it appears to be doing so in an effort to avoid judicial review of an unconstitutional seizure wholly lacking in probable cause," the filing explained. "If Respondent is willing to provide a copy to Petitioners (as it claims), it is evident that doing so will not compromise an ongoing investigation. Respondent’s remaining arguments are meritless..."
