The FBI has ordered a sweeping deployment of more than 250 personnel to investigate the 2020 election in Georgia, marking an extraordinary mobilization that sources say is driven directly by Director Kash Patel's office and aimed at scrutinizing records to support claims of widespread fraud.
An internal FBI memo, obtained by NBC News, instructs all field offices to immediately surge support to what the bureau calls a "priority effort" centered on the Fulton County investigation. The directive requests approximately 260 personnel, predominantly analysts, to join agents already assigned to the case. The scale of the operation underscores how central Georgia's election has become to the Trump administration's Justice Department.
Each analyst participating in the surge is expected to review 708 records. The assignment imposes a significant burden on smaller FBI offices, which must contribute three staffers, while medium and large offices must dedicate five, and extra-large offices must assign eight. The approval to cover costs including overtime for weekends and holidays signals the urgency behind the effort.
A deadline of July 17 has been set for completion of all record checks, with training to be conducted by FBI Atlanta. The scope and speed of this mobilization are highly unusual for a domestic investigation and reflect the priority status assigned by Patel's office.
The investigation has already produced tangible actions. In January, the FBI executed a search warrant at a Fulton County election hub, seizing over 600 boxes of ballots, ballot images and voter rolls. That raid was carried out at the urging of Kurt Olsen, a lawyer who worked with former President Donald Trump to challenge the 2020 results. Trump has since appointed Olsen as director of election security and integrity, a position from which Olsen now operates within the Justice Department.
The Justice Department has escalated its pressure on election officials. In April, prosecutors filed a subpoena demanding that the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections release names, addresses and contact information for all election staff members and volunteers who worked on the 2020 election. The county has asked a judge to quash the subpoena.
Trump has faced criminal charges in Fulton County brought by District Attorney Fani Willis for allegedly conspiring to overturn Georgia's election results. Special counsel Jack Smith also charged him in a related federal case. Trump pleaded not guilty in both proceedings. After his election to a second term, both cases were dropped.
The former president has consistently maintained, without evidence, that he lost the 2020 election due to fraud. Georgia has remained a particular focus of these claims, despite multiple audits, recounts and court proceedings that have found no widespread irregularities in the state's voting or tabulation process.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "This is a stunning reversal of the FBI's position from just months ago, and the speed and scale suggest the Justice Department is now fully committed to validating the president's unfounded fraud narrative."
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