The FBI raid of the election office in Georgia’s largest county may have surprised many Americans. But it was building for more than a year.

It began as a state-county standoff regarding 2020 election data and escalated last fall to include the U.S. Justice Department.  

Here are three keys to understanding what led to the FBI raid.  

1. What’s Unusual About the 2020 Ballots in Fulton? 

In January, the Election Oversight Group, a Georgia organization, issued a 236-page report about the 2020 ballot count in Fulton County.  

This week, the report gained national attention when the Election Integrity Network released a three-page summary in the context of the FBI raid.  

The Election Oversight report says 148,319 absentee ballots were counted for the 2020 General Election from Fulton County. However, just 125,784 voters were recorded as casting an absentee ballot. That would mean the county counted 22,000 more ballots than people who were recorded to have voted. 

A staffer with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office responded that its data doesn’t back up the assertion about 125,784 voters recorded.

The Election Oversight report also notes that 74,000 absentee ballots were reportedly cast when polls closed on Nov. 3, 2020. Four days later, 148,000 absentee ballots were announced. The report says that only 16,032 ballot images have their corresponding unique “fingerprint” authentication file, while another 132,286 ballot image authentications files were deleted.  

“The information in this report documents in one place, in a comprehensive manner and exacting detail, the complete mess of an election that took place in Georgia in November 2020,” Cleta Mitchell, chairwoman of the Election Integrity Network, told The Daily Signal. 

“While Fulton County is ground zero for essentially ignoring as many legal requirements as they possibly could, Fulton County is hardly alone in its election malfeasance,” Mitchell added.  

Raffensperger’s office declined to comment on the FBI raid until more details are available. Previously, his office addressed similar issues.  

For instance, ballot images aren’t counted as votes, but are electronic pictures of ballots made during vote tabulation, officials from Raffensperger’s office said at a May 2024 State Election Board meeting. 

Separately, Raffensperger’s office concluded allegations against county election officials of fraudulent counting and counterfeit ballots were false, in a March 2023 report. His office was assisted by the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.  

Georgia ranks fifth nationally in The Heritage Foundation’s Election Integrity Scorecard.  

2. What Was the State Investigating? 

The State Election Board issued its first subpoena in November 2024, alleging the documents were missing for thousands of votes in the recount of the 2020 presidential election. The letter to Fulton County noted “unexplained anomalies in vote tabulation and storage related to the 2020 election.”  

“Our subpoenas are still open. The board’s official stance was to take custody of those documents,” Janice Johnston, vice chairwoman of the State Elections Board, told The Daily Signal.  

In October 2025, the state board issued a second subpoena requesting all used and void ballots, stubs of all ballots, signature envelopes, and corresponding envelope digital files from the 2020 election in the county. 

At a Dec. 9 state board meeting, a Fulton County official admitted more than 130 tabulator tapes—which are receipt-like pieces of paper with vote tabulation information—that documented about 315,000 early in-person 2020 votes weren’t signed by election workers as required under state law.  

The Daily Signal reached out to Fulton County Elections Director Nadine Williams and Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections Chairwoman Sherri Allen for this story. Neither responded by publication time.  

3. How Did It Become a Federal Matter? 

In July, the state board passed a resolution to request assistance from the U.S. Justice Department “to effect compliance with voting transparency” from Fulton County.  

On Oct. 30, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections demanding “all records in your possession responsive to the recent subpoena issued to your office by the State Election Board.”  

In November, the Fulton County board responded, “The physical ballots, stubs, and absentee ballot envelopes for the 2020 general election remain in the Fulton County Superior Court Clerk’s possession and under seal” in accordance with state law.  

In December, the Justice Department filed a civil rights complaint in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.  

Days later, Georgia Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney cleared the way for the state board to obtain documents related to the 2020 election.  

On Jan. 28, the FBI—acting on a court-authorized search warrant—removed material from the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center in Union City, Georgia, near Atlanta.  

On Feb. 4, Fulton County filed a motion in federal court seeking the return of all the material removed by the FBI, including copies. The motion asks the court to temporarily enjoin the federal government from using the information.  

“Last week I asked the county attorney to take any and all steps available to fight this criminal search warrant,” Fulton County Commissioner Marvin Arrington said in a statement. “Actions like this mass seizure risk sowing seeds of distrust in the election process.” 

The post How Year-Plus Standoff for Election Data Culminated in FBI’s Raid in Georgia appeared first on The Daily Signal.

President Donald Trump on Friday offered an upbeat assessment of the investigation into the suspected kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie. The 84-year-old mother of “Today” host Savannah Guthrie has not been […]

The post Trump Announces 'Clues' Found in Nancy Guthrie Disappearance: 'We Could Have Some Answers' appeared first on The Western Journal.

Travis County District Attorney José Garza has added another police indictment to his growing list, charging a DPS trooper while the career criminal he chased — a documented gang member with multiple pending felonies — remains free thanks to the DA’s revolving‑door justice system.

The post Texas DA Slammed for Indicting Trooper While ‘Career Criminals Roam Free’ appeared first on Breitbart.

There is a reported feud going on between leftist groups when it comes to the use of whistles at anti-ICE protests and riots.

The post Report: Immigrant Activists Want ‘Allies’ to Stop Using Anti-ICE Whistles appeared first on Breitbart.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth didn’t hesitate Friday to hammer the very institution which awarded him his master’s degree by announcing the department would be ending all professional military education, fellowships, and certificate programs with Harvard University.

The post Hegseth Cuts War Department Ties With His ‘Woke’ Alma Mater Harvard appeared first on Breitbart.

Half of British voters now believe that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer should step down from his position as leader in the wake of the Epstein scandal enveloping his former ambassador.

The post Half of British Voters Want Prime Minister Starmer to Resign over Epstein Scandal appeared first on Breitbart.

In what can only be described as an act of God, a 13-year-old Australian boy managed to save his family when he swam for four hours back to shore after […]

The post 'Superhuman' Boy, 13, Swims 4 Hours in Frigid Water then Runs Over a Mile to Rescue His Mother, Sister, and Brother Lost at Sea appeared first on The Western Journal.

Syria is on track to experience a genocide if security protections are not put in place for endangered religious minorities, according to one expert on global religious freedom.

If the “right” steps are taken, there could be “a long-term, stable, I hope, open to democratic [government in] Syria that will take place. We get it wrong now, you will have a genocide within three or four years,” warns Sam Brownback, who formerly served as ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom in the first Trump administration.

To prevent genocide, “local security has to be provided by and for minority groups so that they can protect themselves,” Brownback said while speaking at the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C. this week.

Multiple minority groups, including Alawites, Christians, Kurds, and Druze, are currently facing various levels of persecution in Syria following the collapse of the Assad regime at the end of 2024. Reports of kidnappings, church bombings, and torture of minority groups continue to emerge from the country.

Alawite Persecution

Dr. Morhaf Ibrahim, who is Alawite and serves as president of the Alawites Association of the United States, grew up in Syria but moved to the United States in 2005 at the age of 25.

Ibrahim, a cardiologist who lives in Jacksonville, Florida, still has family and friends in Syria. About a week ago, Ibrahim received news that one of his Alawite friends, who is also a doctor, was kidnapped in Syria and his body was found two days later.

“Kidnapping and killing continues to be an issue” in Syria, Ibrahim told The Daily Signal.

The Alawites are a branch of Shia Islam and enjoyed favor with the Assad regime due to the ruling family being members of the Alawite sect. However, Syria is a predominantly Sunni Muslim nation.

Shia and Sunni are the two main branches of Islam and hold different views on the Prophet Muhammad’s successor, which has created tension between the two groups since the 7th century.

Shia Vs. Sunni in Syria

Hafez al-Assad seized power in Syria in 1970, and his son Bashar al-Assad, nicknamed “The Butcher,” succeeded his father in 2000. Syria entered a civil war beginning in 2011 after the Assad regime responded to anti-regime protests with brutal force.

During the civil war, over 200,000 civilians were killed under Bashar al-Assad’s rule. More than 15,000 died of torture at the hands of the regime, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, a nonprofit that has tracked deaths in Syria since 2011.

With the Assad family’s connection to Shia Islam, Syrian Sunni Muslims faced repression and persecution under the regime. 

Following Assad’s fall, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who is Sunni, became president of Syria in 2025. Now, as the Washington Institute reports, there are concerns that those viewed as the former oppressors in Syria have become the oppressed.

Future of Syria

During the Assad regime, many Alawites worked for the state, Ibrahim says.

After Sharaa took over leadership of Syria, many Alawites were “let go” from their government positions, Ibrahim explains, adding, “Alawites are actually excluded in certain areas, and they cannot really leave because they’re afraid [for] their lives.”

Through his advocacy work, Ibrahim is calling for all citizens of Syria to have “equal citizenship,” and, like Brownback, he says each minority group should control its own security.

“The security officers in the … Alawite-controlled area, or the Alawite-majority areas, should be from the Alawite sect,” Ibrahim told The Daily Signal, adding the same principle should extend to education.

President Donald Trump hosted Sharaa at the White House in November and expressed his desire to see Syria prosper, pledging to do “everything we can to make Syria successful.”

Sharaa is a former al-Qaeda commander, a history Trump acknowledged.

“We’ve all had rough pasts,” the president said during the meeting in November.

Ibrahim says Trump’s engagement with Syria gives him hope that things can change and minorities will be protected.

“With the U.S. engagement with the Syrian regime, and trying to force the Syrian regime to … accept treating all minorities as equal citizens, there’s hope,” Ibrahim says, adding, “but if we continue to have the same path that’s going on right now, I don’t see there is actually improvement in … creating a peaceful state.”

The post Syria on Path to Genocide, Former Trump Official Warns appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Friday on FNC's "Hannity," U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro vowed there was more to come regarding the criminal investigation of Benghazi after the Department of Justice announced suspect Zubayar al-Bakoush had been extradited to the United States to face murder, arson and terrorism-related charges.

The post DC U.S. Atty Pirro Says ‘We Are Not Done Yet’ on Benghazi appeared first on Breitbart.

The feds busted a marriage fraud ring that had been skirting immigration laws to get U.S. citizenship for Chinese migrants.

The post Feds Bust a Chinese Marriage Fraud Ring for Evading U.S. Immigration Laws appeared first on Breitbart.

On Friday on FNC's "The Ingraham Angle," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was pressed by host Laura Ingraham about a Truth Social post from President Donald Trump that included a video briefly depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as primates.

The post WH’s Leavitt: Attention on the Obama Truth Social Post ‘Merely a Distraction for the Fake News Media’ appeared first on Breitbart.

Former comedian Jimmy Kimmel used the publicly owned airwaves to spread a dual hoax that the box office and audience score for Melania have been rigged by Republicans.

The post Nolte: Rotten Tomatoes Debunks Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘Melania’ Disinformation appeared first on Breitbart.