The FBI seized 2020 election materials from Georgia just a few weeks after opening a criminal probe, an unusually fast pace for a case of its kind, experts told CNN.<\/p>\n
The newly released timeline, filed on Friday, was provided by the Justice Department following an order from District Judge Jean-Paul Boulee, who asked the DOJ to give further information on the inception of the FBI\u2019s criminal investigation into the Fulton County elections facility.<\/p>\n
Fulton County officials have suggested in court filings the criminal investigation appears to be a \u201cpretext to acquire records that this Administration was unable to quickly secure via the civil litigation process.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the Justice Department has argued that theory is \u201cnonsensical for multiple reasons\u201d and that the county had not met the high bar required for ordering the seized materials be returned. The department has also argued in court filings that the federal government \u201cused criminal process to get the records\u2014a higher burden than obtaining them through civil process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weeks of proceedings in the ongoing lawsuit \u2014 filed by Futon County officials seeking the return of ballot materials \u2014 predate the timeline release. And the federal government\u2019s previous civil litigation began last year.<\/p>\n
In December, the Justice Department sued Fulton County, seeking records related to the 2020 election as efforts continued to prove President Donald Trump\u2019s false claims that the election was stolen from him.<\/p>\n
In the lawsuit, the Justice Department\u2019s Civil Rights Division alleged the Atlanta-area county did not comply with a subpoena issued by the Georgia State Elections Board for its \u201cused and void ballots, stubs of all ballots, signature envelopes, and corresponding envelope digital files from the 2020 General Election.\u201d<\/p>\n