Trump administration can keep 2020 election ballots seized from Georgia, judge rules

A US judge on Wednesday ruled that the Justice Department can keep 2020 election ballots seized during an FBI search ​in January, a win for President Donald Trump’s administration as it pursues the president’s false claims of widespread voter fraud.Atlanta-based US District Judge J.P.Boulee rejected Fulton County’s request for the return of original copies of the seized material.Lawyers for the county had argued that the FBI’s search of the county’s election hub relied on faulty and discredited evidence and violated protections under the US Constitution.Boulee determined there were flaws in an FBI affidavit used to secure a judge’s permission for the search, but concluded that those shortcomings did not amount to “callous disregard” for the county’s rights, the legal standard required to have the records returned.“While the Affidavit was certainly far from perfect, this is not a situation where an officer left out all the facts that might undermine probable cause or where an officer intentionally lied,” Boulee wrote in a 68-page ruling.Fulton County intends to “vigorously” pursue all available legal options, the county’s chairman, Robb Pitts, said in a statement, while adding that he disagreed with the judge’s ruling.Spokespeople for the FBI and the Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.The ruling is a rare court victory for Trump’s Justice Department in investigations that Trump has demanded.It will allow the FBI to keep possession of more than 600 boxes of 2020 ballots as it pursues a criminal investigation into whether election records were not properly retained or whether residents in Fulton County, which includes most of Atlanta, were defrauded out of a fair election.But the investigation still faces significant obstacles.DOJ lawyers have not identified any individual targets of the probe and have not disputed claims that the statute of limitations appears to have expire...