FBI agent behind Fulton County ballot seizure warrant does not have to testify, judge rules

The FBI agent behind the controversial search warrant that led to the FBI’s seizure of 2020 election ballots from a Fulton County, Georgia, election site will not have to testify in a hearing in the case on Friday, a federal judge ruled.

The decision is a win for the federal government, which sought to block the testimony of FBI special agent Hugh Raymond Evans after Fulton County officials filed suit against the administration, seeking the return of the ballots.

As part of its case, Fulton County had subpoenaed Evans, claiming his affidavit leading to the search warrant “misstated and omitted key facts that if accurately disclosed would have undermined any pretense of probable cause.”

The county was seeking to question Evans, in part, on the “scope of material omissions and erroneous statements” in his affidavit, and his “state of mind with respect to those erroneous statements and omissions,” county attorneys said.

U.S. District Judge JP Boulee on Thursday quashed that subpoena, ruling in favor of the government. 

Judge Boulee ordered Friday’s evidentiary hearing earlier this week after the court-ordered mediation between the two parties was unsuccessful. The order on the agent’s testimony came after the government had filed a motion seeking to cancel the hearing, which Boulee denied last week.

The government had argued, in part, that a hearing could impede the ongoing investigation and would “likely require the Court to rule on difficult and hotly contested privilege disputes.” 

FBI agents on Jan. 28 seized 700 boxes containing ballots and other materials associated with the 2020 election from Fulton County’s Elections Hub and Operations Center after obtaining a search warrant.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly made baseless claims that there was voter fraud in the 2020 election, specifically in Georgia, despite Georgia officials auditing and certifying the results and courts rejecting numerous lawsuits challenging the election’s outcome.