Fulton County official slams Trump administration over FBI’s seizure of 2020 ballots
Ballots arrive at the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operation Center on election night on November 5, 2024 in Fairburn, Georgia. Megan Varner/Getty Images
(FULTON COUNTY, Ga.) — A top Fulton County official on Thursday blasted the Trump administration for the FBI’s seizure of 2020 election ballots, saying the move is about “intimidation and distraction.”
County officials said the FBI seized original 2020 voting records Wednesday while serving a search warrant at the county’s Elections Hub and Operations Center.
The development comes after President Donald Trump has repeatedly said there was voter fraud in the 2020 election, specifically in Georgia, that contributed to his election loss. Georgia officials audited and certified the results following the election.
“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,” Robb Pitts, the chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, said at a press briefing Thursday.
“These ongoing efforts are about intimidation and distraction, not facts,” Pitts said.
Last month, the Justice Department sued Fulton County for access to its 2020 election records, including ballot stubs and signature envelopes.
Asked why the county did not turn over the records then, Pitts said “there is a fight” over the ballots, but that county attorneys reviewed the warrant and said was in their best interest to comply.
“Fulton County has nothing to hide,” he said, “Fulton County elections are fair and lawful, and the outcome of the 2020 election will not change.”
The search warrant authorized the FBI to search for “All physical ballots from the 2020 General Election,” in addition to tabulator tapes from voting machines and 2020 voter rolls, among other documents, according to a copy of the warrant obtained by ABC affiliate WSB.
The warrant says the material “constitutes evidence of the commission of a criminal offense” and had been “used as the means of committing a criminal offense.” It was signed by federal magistrate Judge Catherine Salinas.
Specifically, the warrant listed possible violations of two statutes — one which requires election records to be retained for a certain amount of time, and another which outlines criminal penalties for people, including election officials, who intimidate voters or to knowingly procure false votes or false voter registrations.
(NEW YORK) — This year is expected to be the busiest on record for holiday travel, but rough weather in the West and the East may make getting to and from your Christmas destination even harder.
More than 41 million people across nearly all of California — including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and San Diego — as well as parts of Nevada and Arizona are under a flood watch on Christmas Eve.
A rare alert for “high risk for excessive rainfall” is in place Wednesday for Los Angeles and the surrounding area, so those traveling on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day should be extremely careful on the roads. Road flooding, rockslides, mudslides and water rescues are possible.
The pounding rain is now underway in Southern California and will continue until around 6 p.m. local time Wednesday.
With rainfall rates possibly topping 1 inch per hour, higher elevations surrounding LA can expected 4 to 6 inches of rain on Wednesday alone.
Winds gusts will reach 40 to 50 mph on Wednesday, potentially causing power outages. Thunderstorms are also possible, as well as brief tornadoes along the California coast.
The rain will take a break Wednesday evening before picking back up overnight.
More rounds of rain will hit on Christmas Day and Friday, prolonging the threat of flooding, mudslides and landslides.
By Friday, rain totals could reach 4 to 7 inches along Southern California’s coasts and valleys, and 6 to 14 inches is possible in the foothills and mountains.
Meanwhile, a new storm is forecast to hit the Northeast on Friday morning.
The storm will bring ice to Michigan, Ohio and then Pennsylvania, potentially causing travel chaos and leaving widespread power outages. Ice accumulation could reach up to half an inch in some areas, which makes driving home after Christmas extremely dangerous.
Further east, the storm will bring snow. Six to 12 inches is possible in western New York, northeastern Pennsylvania and parts of New Jersey.
This storm is also forecast to bring the biggest snowfall of the season to New York City. The snow will fall in New York from Friday night to Saturday morning and could reach 3 to 6 inches.
Expect treacherous commutes on Friday on Interstate-80, I-70, I-90 and I-95.
Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition figure and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, attends a press conference on December 11, 2025 in Oslo, Norway. (Rune Hellestad/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump met Thursday with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who presented him with her Nobel Peace Prize medal. The president called it a “wonderful gesture of mutual respect.”
“María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. He also said that Machado was a “wonderful woman who has been through so much” and that it was a great honor to meet her.
Following the meeting, a White House official confirmed to ABC News that Trump did accept the medal.
Further details about the closed-door meeting were not immediately revealed by the White House. Asked about the meeting by ABC News’ Mary Bruce, Trump said it went “great.”
Machado told reporters as she was exiting the White House that she presented Trump with her prize and reflected on the history between the two countries.
“I told him this … Listen to this — 200 years ago, General Lafayette gave Simon Bolivar a medal with George Washington’s face on it. Bolivar, since then, kept that medal for the rest of his life,” she told reporters.
“Actually, when you see his portraits, you can see the medal there. And it was given by General Lafayette as a sign of the brotherhood between the United States, people of United States, and the people of Venezuela in their fight for freedom against tyranny. And 200 years in history, the people of Bolivar are giving back to the heir of Washington, a medal, in this case a medal of a Nobel Peace Prize, and a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom,” she added.
Simon Bolivar liberated Venezuela and several other Latin American countries from Spanish rule in the 1800s. The Marquis de Lafayette was a French national who volunteered to fight with American colonists during the Revolutionary War and eventually rose to be one of George Washington’s most trusted generals.
Machado didn’t offer any more details about her meeting with Trump.
She won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her work “promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela” and her push to move the country from dictatorship to democracy.
Machado dedicated the prize to Trump, along with the people of Venezuela, shortly after it was announced in October 2025.
She said last week that she would like to give or share the prize with Trump, who oversaw the successful U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Maduro faces drug trafficking charges in New York, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
“I certainly would love to be able to personally tell him that we believe — the Venezuelan people, because this is a prize of the Venezuelan people — certainly want to, to give it to him and share it with him,” Machado told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday. “What he has done is historic. It’s a huge step towards a democratic transition.”
The Norwegian Nobel Institute issued a statement last week saying that once the Nobel Peace Prize is announced, it “can neither be revoked, shared, nor transferred to others. Once the announcement has been made, the decision stands for all time.”
When asked earlier this month whether Machado could become the next leader of Venezuela, Trump said it would be “very tough for her” because she “doesn’t have the support or the respect within the country.”
Trump said Wednesday he had a “great conversation” with Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez, their first since authoritarian Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro was seized by the U.S. on Jan. 3.
“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during a bill signing in the Oval Office. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”
The president said last week on his social media platform that he had “cancelled the previously expected second Wave of Attacks” on Venezuela after the government released several political prisoners, but he added that “all ships will stay in place for safety and security purposes.”
Trump has coveted and openly campaigned for winning the Nobel Prize himself since his return to office. White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung slammed the Nobel Committee for its decision after Machado was announced as the most recent winner.
“[Trump] has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will,” Cheung said in an X post. “The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace.”
Jorgen Watne Frydens, the Nobel Committee chair, was asked about Trump’s “campaign” for the prize last year but denied it had any impact on the decision-making process.
“We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say what, for them, leads to peace,” Frydens said. “This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates and that room is filled with both courage and integrity. We base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.”
Ryan Wedding of Canada competes in the qualifying round of the men’s parallel giant slalom snowboarding event during the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games at the Park City Mountain Resort in Park City, Utah, Feb. 14, 2002. (Adam Pretty/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Ryan Wedding, the former Olympic snowboarder investigators said has been leading a major drug ring, has been arrested, U.S. officials announced Friday.
The 44-year-old Canadian has been on the FBI’s Most Wanted list in connection with indictments that allege he is responsible for trafficking “multi-ton quantities of cocaine” from Colombia and connected with several murders for hire in Canada and Mexico.
“At my direction, Department of Justice agents @FBI have apprehended yet another member of the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted List: Ryan Wedding, the onetime Olympian snowboarder-turned alleged violent cocaine kingpin,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an X post. “Wedding was flown to the United States where he will face justice.”
FBI Director Kash Patel said Wedding was taken into custody Thursday night in Mexico, where he is believed to have been hiding for over a decade.
Wedding allegedly ran a transnational drug trafficking operation that “routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California to the United States and Canada — as a member of the Sinaloa Cartel,” Patel said.
Wedding was previously indicted in Los Angeles federal court on multiple federal charges, including running a continuing criminal enterprise, committing murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and assorted drug crimes.
A superseding indictment was filed in November, alleging that Wedding ordered the killing of a witness who was set to testify against him in a federal drug trafficking case, according to the Justice Department.
The U.S. Department of State was offering a $15 million reward for information regarding Wedding.
Prior to starting his alleged criminal enterprise, Wedding, whose alleged aliases include “El Jefe,” “Giant” and “Public Enemy,” was a professional snowboarder and competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
He is also facing similar charges in Canada, according to Canadian authorities.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
