FBI Director Kash Patel on Thursday defended the bureau's raid of the Fulton County, Georgia, election office and rejected claims the search violated the federal statute of limitations.
Local officials strongly objected, arguing the move amounts to retaliation by President Donald Trump's allies over his 2020 election loss and the county's role in the subsequent election interference case.
The search came months after the five-year statute of limitations for federal crimes expired in late 2025. Patel dismissed the concern in comments a day after the search, saying it was conducted in a "timely fashion legally."
"The calculus, in terms of the statute, is always for our brilliant attorneys at DOJ, who we work in conjunction with," Patel said Thursday afternoon on "The Charlie Kirk Show."
"We always abide by the statute of limitations and any constitutional parameters that we have," he added.
Patel said a judge found probable cause for the FBI to execute a search warrant, so law enforcement "did just that."
In remarks last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump repeated his unproven claim that the 2020 election was rigged.
He said that "people will soon be prosecuted for what they did."
Robb Pitts, chair of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, said Thursday that the county has been targeted for years because it rejected Trump's "big lie" that the 2020 election was stolen, Axios reported.
Pitts, who is up for reelection, said he told Trump and GOP former Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz to "stay the hell out of Fulton County."
He reportedly said every audit, recount, and court ruling confirmed what "we, the people of Fulton County, already knew: our elections were fair and accurate, and every legal vote was counted."
"These ongoing efforts are about intimidation and distraction, not facts," he said, according to the outlet.
County officials also said they do not know where the roughly 700 boxes removed from the center are or what will happen to them.
That information came from Sherri Allen, chair of the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections.
She said that because the documents were subject to litigation, the county would have preferred to have made copies so all parties could have access.
"I don't know where they are," Pitts said. "I don't know who has them.
"I don't know what they're doing with them. We can no longer be held responsible for those ballots and other data that was seized yesterday."
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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