HOUSTON, United States

The FBI executed a search warrant Wednesday at an elections office in Fulton County, Georgia as it investigates alleged voter fraud in the 2020 US presidential election in which Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden, said multiple media reports.

According to CNN, the search is related to an effort by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to seize election records and search for alleged voter fraud in the county, which includes the state's largest city and capital, Atlanta.

Trump has made baseless claims since losing to Biden in 2020 that the election was stolen from him, with Georgia being the centerpiece of his accusations of a rigged election.

DOJ officials have previously sued Fulton County elections officials to force them to hand over 2020 election records, but a ruling has not yet been made in that case.

A review by the Justice Department in Trump's first term did not find evidence to support allegations of widespread voter fraud that would have made the difference in him winning Georgia in 2020.

After losing to Biden, Trump launched a campaign in Georgia to overturn the election in his favor, which included a recorded conversation in which Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican who voted for Trump, to "find" enough votes to overcome his loss.

Trump inevitably lost the state of Georgia and the election to Biden. Several associates of his were criminally charged for attempting to overturn the election results, but the case was eventually dropped.

Much of Trump's finger pointing was focused on Fulton County, whose voter base is largely non-white and voted for Biden.

Since winning his second term in office in 2024, Trump has repeatedly asserted that those he believed to be responsible for his claims of widespread voter fraud would face consequences.

US Attorney Byung Pak, the top federal prosecutor in Atlanta, resigned around two weeks before Biden was inaugurated in January 2021 after learning Trump intended to fire him for not aggressively pursuing alleged election fraud. Trump reportedly labeled Pak a "never-Trumper" and was dissatisfied with his office's investigations, which had already debunked claims of fraud in Georgia.

Court filings show that the DOJ is requesting all 2020 election records in Fulton County, including ballots, ballot stubs and absentee signature envelopes. A court ruling on the release of those documents is still pending.

In addition to Georgia, the Trump administration has sued nearly two dozen states to hand over their voter rolls, including Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Courts in California and Oregon have already rejected the Justice Department's claims that it is entitled to their voter files.