FBI raids Georgia elections office as Trump administration seeks voter data from states

Geoff Bennett:

Welcome to the "News Hour."

The FBI executed a search warrant at an election center in Fulton County, Georgia, today seeking records related to the 2020 election.

Amna Nawaz:

Federal agents were seen entering the office outside of Atlanta this afternoon. Baseless claims of voter fraud in Fulton County have been a focus of President Trump since he lost the 2020 election.

Our White House correspondent, Liz Landers, has been following all of this, and she joins us now.

So, Liz, the search is a remarkable escalation of the president's unfounded claims about the 2020 election. What do we know about what happened?

Liz Landers:

The FBI confirming to us this afternoon that they are conducting what they say is a court-authorized law enforcement action at that Fulton County election center.

And just moments before we got on the air, we obtained the search warrant that they have there in Georgia. It was signed today by a federal judge. And in it, it gives us some more information about what the FBI is seeking. It says they're looking for physical ballots from the 2020 election, envelopes, provisional ballots, ballot images and voter rolls, Amna.

So I spoke earlier with David Becker, who's an elections attorney and former Department of Justice civil rights attorney, and he said that the ballots in Fulton County have been counted many times. They have been counted three times actually. And one of those times was by hand.

So the idea that the FBI may find something new here is unlikely. But, as you mentioned, this remains a fixture for the president. He continues to lie about the 2020 election results, and in particular in Georgia. Remember he had that phone call with the secretary of state in 2021, Brad Raffensperger, where he asked him to find basically the vote margin that would push him over the edge to win the state of Georgia there.

Just last week, the president said in a speech, people will soon be prosecuted for what they did in the 2020 election. Amna, he talks about this on almost a daily basis.

Amna Nawaz:

Liz, we're at the beginning of another election year. How does what we saw today play into the larger preparations for those upcoming midterms?

Liz Landers:

That's right. This comes as the Trump administration has been requesting voter information from states. And the president hints that he thinks he could use the National Guard to, in his view, secure elections.

I spoke earlier with two secretaries of state, Democrat Shenna Bellows of Maine and Republican Michael Adams of Kentucky about this raid today and how they're preparing for elections this year amid debates over ballot security and voter access.

Welcome to "News Hour." Thanks so much for joining us here.

Michael Adams (R), Kentucky Secretary of State: Thank you.

Shenna Bellows (D), Maine Secretary of State: It's a pleasure.

Liz Landers:

Secretary Bellows, I want to start with you about some news of the day that we're hearing today. What is your reaction to this FBI search of the Fulton County Georgia elections office? This is apparently part of a probe related to the 2020 election. What do you make of that search?

Shenna Bellows:

We're still waiting for more information, but this is deeply concerning.

The fact that the lies of 2020 have not ended and we're still relitigating the presidential election then, these lies are very dangerous. And I think it's really concerning and doesn't bode well for 2026 and 2028.

Liz Landers:

Secretary Adams, are you concerned that DOJ could target other states like this?

Michael Adams:

Well, I think it's really telling that we have had, I think, 24 states now in litigation with the DOJ on our voter rolls, and there's been no FBI raid.

So I don't want to overread into this where they might be there. My understanding is, this is a situation where the state election board is adverse to the county of Fulton and has asked the DOJ to intervene. So that doesn't mean that it's all fine. I don't know more facts than you do about it, but I don't rush to judgment on it.

Liz Landers:

Secretary Bellows, last week Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Minnesota to the governor there on Saturday right after that fatal shooting that we saw in Minneapolis asking the governor to in part turn over voter rolls to the Department of Justice.

Your state is experiencing right now a surge in federal immigration agents. Has the attorney general sent a letter like this to you? And why do you think the Department of Justice is gunning so hard to get this information?

Shenna Bellows:

So I think it's deeply concerning.

And keep in mind, for your viewers in Maine, ICE is surging. They're calling it, grotesquely, Catch of the Day, which is just truly gross. We're in the bottom quartile in terms of percentage of immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.

So for them to send a letter on the heels of the killing of Alex Pretti and demand Minnesota's voter rolls as a condition for ICE leaving indicates that ICE's presence in Minnesota isn't really about immigration at all. It's about intimidating election officials.

And we're going to continue to fight to protect the integrity of American voter information, because the Constitution places the states, not the federal government, not the president, in charge of elections.

Liz Landers:

Secretary Adams, I know that you have provided the Department of Justice some of the public voter files right now. How are you complying with this and navigating this as a Republican?

Michael Adams:

So I think there are opposite poles here. One poll is never, ever cooperate with the administration. And that's not the right posture, I don't think, on the law.

The other is just give everything that they ask for and not run your traps. We're doing something more in the middle, which is that we have our own data privacy laws in Kentucky. We have our own personal privacy laws in Kentucky. And any citizen of the United States can ask for our voter rolls and many do.

And every campaign asks for them. The state parties asked for them, and we provide that information. But when we're dealing with people's personally identifying information, their driver's license number, their Social Security number, that's in a different field. We don't give those to the candidates and the parties.

Candidly, the law is not super clear on this. No one -- no DOJ has ever asked for this before. So there's no FAQ on my Web site to tell me what to do on it. So it may come down to litigation. It may come down to us getting guidance from the courts to see where the federal law stops and the state law begins.

Shenna Bellows:

And I appreciate what Secretary Adams is saying, because I think this is really important. We're an open book with regards to what we do, our procedures, our list maintenance. We provided that information to the Department of Justice.

Where we draw the line is the sensitive personal data of every American.

Liz Landers:

What are you both doing to reassure both the public and the Trump administration that the elections in your states are secure? Because we hear the president questioning that frequently.

Shenna Bellows:

We see it in terms of voter turnout. So, Maine routinely ranks in the top of the nation in voter participation. In 2022, we were number one. Minnesota was number two. In 2024, Minnesota was number one. We were number two.

And, in fact, election integrity was on the ballot in Maine just this past November with a question about voter I.D. and absentee voting; 63 percent of Mainers voted, basically showing their confidence in our elections by rejecting any changes to our election laws.

So we do believe our elections are free, safe and secure. We have post-election audits. We have frequent recounts given how close, how purple Maine is. And the voters tell us that they think our elections are free, safe and secure because they show up.

Michael Adams:

Well, at the risk of bragging, I'm the top vote getter in my state of both parties, so I think that's a big vote of confidence in our election process.

But also the Trump administration has routinely filed briefs and other pleadings in cases that we have in federal court, taking our side of the argument on saying that we don't need to be supervised by a federal court on our voter rolls, that they're clean, that they're up to date, they're accurate.

So I feel like we have to date satisfied both the public in my state and also the administration.

Liz Landers:

Secretary Bellows, the president recently told The New York Times that he regretted not ordering the National Guard to seize voting machines in swing states after those 2020 elections.

What would you do as the top elections official in Maine if he made that request after the midterms this year?

Shenna Bellows:

We would not give him the ballots or -- and I think this is important, right?

The Constitution places responsibility for the elections in the people that the people trust, the people closest to them on the ground, the local and state election officials. And in Maine, we have strict chain of custody controls over our ballots, when the ballots are centralized for recounts or ranked-choice voting.

There are only two people that have the key. One of them is me. And he is not getting our ballots. He's not getting our voter rolls.

Liz Landers:

Is that something you would comply with?

Michael Adams:

I would comply with any legal court order, but I wouldn't just take any order that's issued to me and let that trump the law of my own state. I'd follow the law of my own state.

Liz Landers:

Both of you work closely with local election officials in your states. What's the biggest operational challenges that you're facing right now?

I will start with you, Secretary Bellows.

Shenna Bellows:

So we're really challenged to recruit folks into the field with the retirement of the Baby Boomers and also fears about threats because of misinformation and lies about the election.

So it's a much more challenging environment. So we're always working hard to recruit new clerks, to train our folks. And I think that's probably the biggest challenge.

Michael Adams:

So I was elected in 2019. And before I was even sworn in 2020, I was called to my legislature and asked, what's the biggest concern that I had?

And I said having enough poll workers and enough voting locations. And that was before COVID. It was before all the stuff that we have seen, all the crazy elections the last several years. And that's an ongoing issue.

To Secretary Bellows' point, our generation is just not volunteering at the level that our parents did and grandparents did. But we also have locations that don't want to be voting locations anymore. Schools are nervous about being public voting locations. They're worried about active shooters being able to scope out buildings and look for ways in and then come back later when the kids are there.

Churches are getting more -- either more political or apolitical, but, either way, they have less comfort with being a voting location. So it's getting harder for us to recruit people to want to be part of the process and locations as well.

Liz Landers:

You two are here in the area for a conference right now. Talk about the relationship between you as secretaries of state. What is the information-sharing like right now?

Michael Adams:

We talk every day, not all 50 of us to each other, but I'm in lots of calls with these folks. We have regular calls every Thursday at 3:00 or what have you. But we also have a lot of private conversations.

And one thing that's changed over time is, when I first got here, it was really a debating society between those of us on the right and those of us on the left about voter I.D. and other little things. And then we went through 2020 together. And then the misinformation stuff wasn't just about certain states. It was all 50 of us dealing with the same threats on our person, the same threats to the system, the same concerns.

We really kind of bonded over that, because we're all fighting the same battle.

Shenna Bellows:

I think that's right.

And I think, on election security issues, on physical security, cybersecurity, back in 2023 and 2024, I was threatened and doxxed and swatted. And when I came to the NAAS (ph) conference, my Republican colleagues were giving me hugs and praying for me.

I do think that there is a lot of bipartisan conversation and dialogue. We are not going to agree on certain policies. But I think this is something that the American people can have confidence in. It doesn't matter what state you are in, whether it's Maine or Kentucky.

We may not agree on certain voting rights policies, but in terms of the integrity of election administration, in terms of the checks and balances, and the state and local control of the elections, that's something that I think we all really value.

And I think it's really important today.

Liz Landers:

Secretary Bellows, Secretary Adams, thank you so much for joining us.

Michael Adams:

Thank you.

Shenna Bellows:

Thank you.