"First, the Fourth Amendment demands "probable cause"-not "possible cause." The Affidavit fails that constitutional requirement. Despite years of investigations of the 2020 election, the Affidavit does not identify facts that establish probable cause that anyone committed a crime. Instead, FBI Special Agent Evans (the "Affiant") all but admits that the seizure will yield evidence of a crime only if certain hypotheticals are true."
"See, e.g., Aff. ¶ 10 ("If these deficiencies were the result of intentional action, it would be a violation of federal law[.]"); ¶ 85 (" If these deficiencies were the result of intentional action, the election records . . . are evidence of violations[.]"). Unsupported by probable cause and dependent on unsubstantiated hypotheticals, Respondent's seizure violated the Fourth Amendment."
The FBI executed a search and seized Fulton County's 2020 election records. Fulton County challenged the search and obtained release of the supporting affidavits. Media outlets annotated the affidavits and cataloged prior debunking of the underlying conspiracy theories. Fulton County filed an amended motion to suppress the warrants and submitted a 178-page declaration with exhibits from Ryan Macias arguing the affidavit lacked probable cause. The affidavit repeatedly tied potential evidence to hypothetical intentional actions rather than established facts and described routine human errors that sources confirm commonly occur in election administration.
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