FBI calls for ‘immediate surge’ of personnel to help Fulton County 2020 election probe, sources say
The FBI has issued a memo requesting all field offices surge a total of over 250 personnel into what it described as a “priority effort” for Director Kash Patel’s office, which two sources familiar with the effort said centers on the investigation into the 2020 election in Georgia.
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“In support of the Director’s Office priority effort, the Directorate of Intelligence (DI) and Criminal Division are requesting all FBI field offices to immediately surge support to an FBI Atlanta priority investigation,” said the internal memo, which has been obtained by NBC News.
The FBI declined comment on the memo, which was first reported by MS Now.
One of the sources said it is an effort to dig deeper into the 2020 election, focusing on individuals and records to support President Donald Trump’s election fraud theories that he continues to push.
The directive came directly from Patel’s office and in all includes 260 personnel, apparently mostly analysts, who will join agents already working the Fulton County investigation.
Each analyst is expected to review 708 records.
The number of personnel being asked to work on the case and the approval of the costs, including overtime for weekends and holidays, is highly unusual.
It requires small field offices to dedicate three staffers each, while medium and large offices have to dedicate five staffers and extra large field offices have to dedicate eight.
“All records checks need to be completed by Friday, July 17,” the memo says, and personnel will be trained by “FBI Atlanta.”
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The Georgia election results have long been a fixation of the president’s.
Trump was charged criminally by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special counsel Jack Smith for conspiring to illegally overturn the election results in the pivotal swing state.
Trump had pleaded not guilty in both cases, which were ultimately dropped after he was elected to his second term.
The president has maintained his false claim that he lost the 2020 election because of fraud, and the Justice Department has homed in on Georgia and Fulton County in particular in an apparent effort to prove his claims of wrongdoing.
The FBI executed a search warrant in January at a Fulton County elections hub, seizing over 600 boxes of ballots, ballot images and voter rolls connected to the election.
The Justice Department also in April to try to force the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections to release the names, addresses and contact information for election staff members and volunteers who worked on the 2020 election.
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The county has to quash the subpoena.
