The FBI last week fired two of its analysts after they expressed concerns that the investigation into the 2020 election results in Fulton County, Georgia, was thin on evidence and appeared to be politically motivated, according to several sources briefed on the matter.
The firings follow the FBI’s efforts to review thousands of records obtained earlier this year, after executing a search warrant and seizing “all physical ballots” from 2020, as well as tapes from vote-tabulating machines, ballot images and voter rolls. The bureau ordered 260 analysts to help sift through the ballots and voting data.
“The FBI will always investigate credible allegations of matters related to federal elections,” an FBI spokesperson told CBS News. “Every employee at this FBI is expected to uphold our mission and adhere to our standards – any deviation will not be tolerated.”
The firings were reported earlier by MS Now.
The FBI analysts face a July 17 deadline this week to complete their work, CBS News previously reported.
Sources with knowledge of the matter told CBS News that each analyst is being asked to review several hundred entries in a large spreadsheet that contains information such as names, addresses and voter IDs.
Analysts are then instructed to cross-check the information against the commercial database Accurint, and to highlight any discrepancies, the sources added. That database aggregates public records, including names, addresses, telephone numbers and other data, such as criminal history.
It is not clear what the FBI intends to do with the information once the review is complete.
The assignment has stoked a variety of concerns, including that the data in Accurint may not always be up to date, and that any discrepancies identified may not necessarily indicate any wrongdoing, the sources claimed. There is also the question of how the Justice Department could bring charges, since the likely five-year statute of limitations would have already expired in late 2025 or early 2026.
CBS News has reached out to Accurint’s parent company seeking comment.
Some also fear the Trump administration may try to use the results of the review to claim the 2020 election results were wrong, a move that could stoke doubts about election integrity ahead of the midterm elections or be used to pressure Republicans to pass the SAVE Act, which would require Americans to show proof of citizenship in person to register to vote.
Fulton County officials have sought to quash the probe, which was referred to the FBI by Kurt Olsen, a lawyer who previously fought to try and overturn the results of the 2020 election as part of the Stop the Steal Movement. He was later sanctioned by a court while he was representing Kari Lake, in her bid to overturn her 2022 election loss in Arizona.
Olsen now works for the Justice Department. He is assigned in Miami to help investigate the so-called “grand conspiracy” into whether Obama- and Biden-era officials conspired to keep President Trump out of office through a series of investigations, intelligence assessments and prosecutions, CBS News previously reported.
A judge in May denied a request by Fulton County to return the ballots that were seized.
However, since then, the county has secured a victory after a judge earlier this month quashed a grand jury subpoena seeking the names and personal contact information for every person who worked during the 2020 election in the county.