Earlier
this
month,
the
FBI
decided
it
was
going
to
help
Donald
Trump steal
back
the
election he’s
claimed
for
half-a-decade
was
stolen
from
him.
The
state
whose
Secretary
of
State
was
asked
directly
by
the
outgoing
president
in
January
2021
to
“find
11,780
votes”
was
raided
by
Trump
2.0,
who
still
somehow
thinks
he
can
win
the
election
he
lost
back
in
2020.
It’s
not
just
revenge
Trump
is
seeking.
He’s
also
hoping
to
find anything that
will
allow
him
to
cast
doubt
on
midterm
election
results
now
that
it
seems
entirely
possible
the
GOP
might
lose
its
majority
in
the
legislature.
The
FBI
walked
off
with
tons
of
stuff
after
its
raid
of
the
Fulton
County
election
hub
in
Georgia.
The
raid
—
which
was
attended
by
the
current
DNI
Tulsi
Gabbard
for
no
apparent
reason
—
saw
the
Trump
government
seize
as
many
2020
ballots
and
voter
records
as
possible.
The
stated
reason
for
this
raid
was
to
collect
evidence
related
to
two
alleged
crimes:
not
retaining
election
records
long
enough
and
attempts
to
“intimidate
voters
or
procure
false
votes/false
voter
registration.”
One
of
several
glaring
problems
with
this
raid
is
the
fact
that
some
of
the
criminal
acts
alleged
have
already
surpassed
the
five-year
statute
of
limitations.
The
rest
of
the
glaring
problems
are
far
less
subtle.
Like
Trump
using
the
FBI
and
DOJ
to
engage
in
vindictive
prosecution.
And
the
FBI
appearing
to
have
deliberately
mislead
the
magistrate
judge
to
get
this
search
warrant
approved.
This declaration [PDF]
by
Ryan
Macias,
a
project
manager
for
the
voting
system
used
in
Fulton
County
who
also
served
as
the
Acting
Director
of
the
Voting
System
Program
during
the
2020
election,
points
out
multiple
flaws
in
the
FBI’s
warrant
affidavit
—
all
of
which
it
would
be
safe
to
assume
were
deliberate
“errors.”
The
Affidavit
asserts
that
there
were
five
“deficiencies
or
defects
with
the
November
3,
2020,
election
and
tabulation
of
the
votes
thereof.”
The
Affidavit
concludes
that
“[i]f
these
deficiencies
were
the
result
of
intentional
action,
it
would
be
a
violation
of”
Title
52
U.S.C.
§§
20511
(Criminal
Penalties)
and
20701
(Retention
and
Preservation
of
Records
of
Elections).
In
all
five
areas
identified
by
Special
Agent
Evans’
Affidavit,
there
are
a
multitude
of
false
or
misleading
statements
and
omissions. In
fact,
there
are,
as
set
forth
below, over
a
dozen
omissions
of
critical
parts
of
the
reports
and
related
materials that
I
identified
in
paragraph
4
above. This
is
in
addition
to
the
absence
of
any
recognition
that
much
of
what
the
Affidavit
references
as
concerning
are
widely
known
as
benign
and
common
election
practices. As
noted
there,
all
of
those materials
are
publicly
available
and
could
have
been
referenced
by
Special
Agent Evans.
Even
when
Special
Agent
Evans
cites
to
one
of
these
sources, he
repeatedly omits
crucial
facts
and
findings
inconsistent
with
his
characterizations. Once
the statements
and
omissions
in
the
Affidavit
are
corrected
and
based
on
my
experience administering
elections
in
accordance
with
the
statutes
cited
in
the
Affidavit,
the Affidavit
loses
any
basis
in
reality.
The
whole
thing
needs
to
be
read,
but
here
are
just
a
couple
of
the
things
we’re
going
to
generously
call
“errors,”
even
though
they’re
really
deliberate
omissions.
The
criminal
allegations
allege
ballot
images
weren’t
retained
in
violation
of
the
law.
But,
as
this
declaration
points
out,
the
retention
of
images
wasn’t
mandated
by
law
in
Georgia
until
2021,
which
would
be after the
2020
election.
If
images
weren’t
retained,
it
was
likely
because
election
staffers
obviously
didn’t
think
it
was
necessary
to
do
so.
Second,
the
affidavit
claims
something
is
shady
about
the
audits
performed
by
county
officials,
insinuating
that
this
somehow
resulted
in
votes
mysteriously
swinging
the
state
in
Biden’s
direction.
This
declaration
states
the
actual
truth:
“risk
limiting
audits”
only
aid
in
determining
whether
or
not
a
recount
might
be
warranted.
Only
official
counts
and
recounts
can
actually
alter
voting
results.
Fulton
County’s challenge [PDF]
of
the
search
contains
even
more
information
that
indicates
the
FBI’s
search
warrant
application
was
crafted
to
basically
trick
a
judge
into
authorizing
an
illegal
search
(all
emphasis
in
the
original):
First,
the
Fourth
Amendment
demands
“probable
cause”—not
“possible
cause.”
The
Affidavit
fails
that
constitutional
requirement.
Despite
years
of
investigations
of
the
2020
election,
the
Affidavit
does
not
identify
facts
that
establish
probable
cause
that anyone committed
a
crime.
Instead,
FBI
Special
Agent
Evans
(the
“Affiant”)
all
but
admits
that
the
seizure
will
yield
evidence
of
a
crime only
if certain
hypotheticals
are
true.
See,
e.g.,
Aff.
¶
10
(“If these
deficiencies
were
the
result
of
intentional
action, it
would
be a
violation
of
federal
law[.]”);
¶
85
(“If
these
deficiencies
were
the
result
of
intentional
action,
the
election
records
.
.
.
are
evidence
of
violations[.]”).
Unsupported
by
probable
cause
and
dependent
on
unsubstantiated
hypotheticals,
Respondent’s
seizure
violated
the
Fourth
Amendment.
There’s
more
(emphasis
mine):
Second,
instead
of
alleging
probable
cause
to
believe
a
crime
has
been
committed,
the
Affidavit
does
nothing
more
than
describe
the
types
of
human
errors
that
its
own
sources
confirm
occur
in
almost
every
election—without
any
intentional
wrongdoing
whatsoever. Mislabeling
an
expected
margin
of
error
as
“deficiencies”
or
“defects”
cannot
establish
probable
cause,
let
alone
for
a
seizure
of
this
magnitude.
Third,
the
Affidavit
omits
numerous
material
facts—including
from
the
very
reports
and
publicly-disclosed
investigations
that
the
Affiant
cites—that
confirm
the
alleged
conduct
was
previously
investigated
and
found
to
be
unintentional.
Moreover,
the
Affidavit
not
only
fails
to
allege
that
any
particular
witness
is
reliable
or
credible; it
omits
discrediting
information
about
those
witnesses
that
was
obviously
available
to
the
Affiant.
These
omissions
are
serious. The
ex
parte
warrant
process
would
be
rendered
a
nullity
if
the
government
were
permitted
to
hide
material
and
probative
facts
that
refute
probable
cause
from
a
magistrate
judge
and
nevertheless
retain
the
fruits
of
its
misconduct.
It
then
goes
on
to
note
that
even
if
the
affidavit
wasn’t
more
about
what
was
deliberately
left
out
of
it,
rather
than
what
Kash
Patel’s
FBI
decided
to
include,
it
would
still
suck,
constitutionally-speaking:
Fourth,
even
if
the
Affidavit
established
probable
cause,
the
seizure
of
original
election
materials
would
be
unreasonable
and
in
callous
disregard
of
the
Fourth
Amendment because
(1)
the
statutes
of
limitation
have
lapsed
on
the
only
crimes
under
investigation;
(2)
the
warrant
violates
Georgia’s
state
sovereignty
by
effectively
enjoining
a
pending
state
court
proceeding
and
preventing
Georgia
from
performing
its
constitutionally-mandated
role
in
administering
its
elections;
and
(3) the
Respondent
improperly
used
the
criminal
warrant
process
to
circumvent
a
pending
civil
lawsuit
in
which
it
requested
the
same
records.
That
last
sentence
is
a
particularly
spicy
zinger.
It
shows
the
administration
will
do
anything
to
rack
up
a
few
rabble-rousing
“victories,”
no
matter
how
fleeting
or
Pyrrhic.
This
is
a
fully-cooked
collection
of
gassed-up
bigots
and
conspiracy
theorists
(or
both!)
who
have
managed
to
turn
their
extremely
online
“own
the
libs”
bullshit
into
a
24/7
attack
on
the
Constitution,
the
system
of
checks
and
balances,
and
anything
else
that
stands
in
the
way
of
their
autocratic
wet
dreams.
What’s
standing
between
us
and
further
destruction
of
the
stuff
that
makes
America
great
is
a
court
system
that
doesn’t
actually
seem
to
know
what
to
do
when
it
has
to
deal
with
an
entire
administration
that
refuses
to
play
by
the
rules
that
have
held
this
nation
together
for
more
than
two
centuries.
It’s
time
for
the
courts
to
dig
deep
and
start
breaking
the
glass
on
every
judicial
tool
labeled
“IN
CASE
OF
EMERGENCY.”
Giving
any
of
these
fuckers
the
benefit
of
a
doubt
only
allows
them
to
dig
in
deeper.
It
Looks
Like
The
FBI
Straight
Up
Lied
To
A
Judge
To
Get
Permission
To
Seize
Georgia
Voting
Records
More
Law-Related
Stories
From
Techdirt:
Trump
Wants
An
Airport
Renamed
After
Him
While
His
Company
Trademarks
Those
Same
Names
Department
Of
Education
Forced
To
Back
Off
Illegal
Plan
To
Be
Racist,
Sexist
Assholes
DOGE
Bro’s
Grant
Review
Process
Was
Literally
Just
Asking
ChatGPT
‘Is
This
DEI?’