Over, Done, and Overdone

It has been 1,910 days since the 2020 presidential election was called for Joe Biden, and Donald Trump is still falsely claiming that he won.

The FBI’s search of an Atlanta-area election office this week is the latest step in Trump’s long crusade to prove that the election was stolen from him. He began soon after the election was over, when he called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and pressured him to “find 11,780 votes.”

Now, Trump is putting the force of the federal government behind those same efforts. Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence—a position tasked with overseeing the CIA and other intelligence agencies—is reportedly overseeing the investigation that resulted in the Georgia election office being searched.

It’s worth repeating: The president’s claims are nonsense. The 2020 election was fair and secure, thanks to the hard work of election officials across the country. The results were audited and recounted multiple times by officials from across the political spectrum. The results were litigated in more than 60 court cases, and the Trump campaign either lost or dropped nearly every one. It has long been over. Trump lost.

Any purported discoveries these investigations produce will have two purposes: To appease the president, and to cast doubt on the American election system ahead of the 2026 and 2028 elections.

“There’s no doubt we’re going to see close races this year. We can expect an Election Denier in chief to try to cast doubt on results he doesn’t like,” States United CEO Joanna Lydgate told reporters this week. “The election threats we witnessed in 2020 are really supercharged today under an administration of Election Deniers.”

But numbers don’t lie. As Raffensperger told Trump more than five years ago: “Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong.”

➡️ READ MORE: Sharing the Facts About the Trump Administration’s 2020 Election Investigation

This Week in Democracy

• Two federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, during a protest in Minneapolis against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations. The incident comes just over two weeks after agents killed Renee Good, another American. As protests continue, Gov. Tim Walz deployed the Minnesota National Guard at the request of local officials to support public safety measures.

  After Pretti was killed, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Walz with a list of conditions to “restore the rule of law” in Minnesota. The list included a demand that state election officials give the Justice Department an unredacted list of the state’s registered voters, including their private information like Social Security numbers and driver’s license information.

  Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, the state’s chief election official, promptly refused Bondi’s demand. “In Minnesota, we will continue to follow the letter of the law, which requires us to protect the private data of our voters,” he said in a statement. “It is deeply disturbing that the U.S. Attorney General would make this unlawful request a part of an apparent ransom to pay for our state’s peace and security.”

  ➡️ READ: Sharing the Facts About Federal Efforts to Compile State Voter Data

• Following Bondi’s letter to Walz, the federal judge overseeing the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Oregon—also seeking voters’ private information—quickly scheduled a hearing. The judge asked lawyers for the department to explain how the letter should impact his decision.

  After the hearing, the judge formally dismissed the Justice Department’s case, saying that he had major concerns about whether the department would comply with federal privacy laws.

  “The law still matters. They have no authority to force our hand,” said Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read, later adding: “Our duty is to the Constitution, to the rule of law, and to the people we serve, and we will continue to do our duty without hesitation.”

• The attorneys general of 21 states and the District of Columbia wrote to Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to condemn the Trump administration’s threats against Minnesota, including its demands for voters’ information. “[T]he Administration has offered no actual evidence to back up such massive federal overreaches and intrusions on state sovereignty and individual privacy,” they wrote.
• Twenty state attorneys general also filed a brief in support of Minnesota’s lawsuit against the Trump administration that seeks to halt the surge of federal agents in the state.

  “As the President himself has said, Minnesota is just the beginning, and if left unchecked, he will no doubt go into and threaten the safety, autonomy, and well-being of more states and communities,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who led the brief.

• The FBI searched a Fulton County, Ga., election office and seized records from the 2020 election, including archived ballots. The search is part of a federal investigation into the 2020 election led by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, according to The Wall Street Journal. The investigation follows months of pressure from President Trump on members of his administration to investigate his long-debunked claims of fraud.

  State and local officials denounced the search. “Every audit, every recount, every court ruling has confirmed what we, the people of Fulton County, already knew: Our elections were fair and accurate, and every legal vote was counted,” said Robb Pitts, the chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. “These ongoing efforts are about intimidation and distraction, not facts.”

State of the States

In New Jersey, a panel of federal judges upheld a lower court’s ruling that disqualified Alina Habba from serving as the state’s top federal prosecutor. Attorney General Bondi appointed Habba, one of Trump’s former personal attorneys, using unusual legal maneuvers that a judge called an attempt to “sidestep” federal law.

Bondi used similar tactics to appoint prosecutors in California, Nevada, New Mexico, and New York. Federal judges have ruled that each was unlawfully appointed.

In Maine, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins announced that federal immigration officials gave her assurances that they are ending “enhanced operations” in her state.

In a statement, Gov. Janet Mills said that the end of operations “does not end the pain and suffering that they have inflicted on communities across our state.”

“The people of Maine deserve to know the identities of every person taken from here, the legal justification for doing so, where they are being held, and what the federal government’s plan for them are,” Mills added.

➡️ READ: What’s Breaking Through About Federal Law Enforcement Tactics

Recommended Reading

In a new column in The Wall Street Journal, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says that the Trump administration’s claims about his state—which it has used as justification for targeting the state with federal funding freezes and immigration enforcement operations—are false.

“Minnesota is a state that believes in the rule of law and in the dignity of all people,” Walz writes. “We know that true public safety comes from trust, respect and shared purpose, not from intimidation or political theater.”

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