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The Department of Justice took aim at reporters it viewed as biased on social media on Wednesday after a federal judge sided with the government in a dispute over 2020 ballots and election materials it seized in Fulton County, Georgia, in January.
“Wrong again, MacFarlane,” a DOJ communications account wrote in an X post, targeting a MeidasTouch journalist who had speculated the department’s arguments would fail to persuade the judge.
Judge J.P. Boulee had found in a 68-page order that Fulton County did not prove its rights were violated when the FBI seized more than 600 boxes of election records. Boulee, a Trump appointee, denied county officials’ request that the boxes be returned, handing the Trump administration a win in its broader fight to investigate the 2020 election and prompting DOJ to taunt media skeptics online.
“Sorry for your loss, Anna,” the DOJ social media account wrote in a separate post about a Lawfare editor.
FBI AGENTS SEARCH ELECTION HUB IN FULTON COUNTY, GEORGIA
FBI agents are seen at the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center in Union City, Ga., near Atlanta, on Jan. 28, 2026. (Mike Stewart/AP)
Boulee’s decision marked a win for the DOJ in its nationwide effort to investigate past elections in key battlegrounds that also include Arizona and Michigan, as Trump maintains that the 2020 election was tainted by widespread fraud and aggressively pushes for tighter election security measures ahead of the midterms.
The FBI had seized the boxes, which included 2020 ballots, from the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center after obtaining a court-approved a search warrant. An underlying affidavit revealed the bureau was probing allegations of ballot irregularities and record-keeping failures in Georgia, a state Trump lost by a razor-thin margin to President Joe Biden that became ground zero for Trump’s election fraud claims in the aftermath of 2020.
FBI SUBPOENAS 2020 ARIZONA VOTING DOCS AS FEDERAL PUSH INTO ELECTION ADMINISTRATION WIDENS
Ballots arrive at the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operation Center on election night on Nov. 5, 2024, in Fairburn, Ga. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)
Democrats have widely criticized the investigation, including Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., who called it a continuation of a “sore loser’s crusade” upon learning of the probe.
Fulton County Board of Commissioners chairman Robb Pitts, who is named in the litigation over the box seizure, previously called the investigation “yet another act of outrageous federal overreach designed to intimidate and to chill participation in elections. … I will always stand up for our elections workers and for the truth.”
NAACP ASKS JUDGE TO LIMIT HOW FEDS USE GEORGIA VOTER DATA SEIZED BY FBI
Pitts and other Fulton County officials had argued the box seizures were unlawful and that the government showed “callous disregard” for the county’s constitutional rights. But Boulee rejected those claims while still acknowledging that the underlying affidavit was flawed and contained “troubling” statements.
Left: Vehicles pass by the sign for the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operations Center on Nov. 4, 2024, in Union City, Georgia. Right: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at The Villages Charter School on May 1, 2026, in The Villages, Florida. (Elijah Nouvelage / AFP via Getty Images & Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images))
“While the Affidavit was certainly far from perfect, this is not a situation where an officer left out all the facts that might undermine probable cause or where an officer intentionally lied,” Boulee wrote, adding that he “cannot say that the Affidavit was so deficient that its shortcomings rise to the ‘high[] threshold’ of callous disregard.”
Boulee relied in his decision on the fact that the investigation was still in an early phase and emphasized that federal authorities had obtained a valid warrant supported by an affidavit. The affidavit outlined allegations related to missing ballot images, inconsistent recount totals and chain-of-custody problems, among other potential issues.
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In response to Boulee’s order, Pitts said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital that he agreed with the judge’s assessment that the affidavit was “defective” and “problematic.”
“But I strongly disagree with the judge’s denial of Fulton County’s request for the FBI to return the election records it wrongly seized on January 28,” Pitts said, adding that county officials would “continue, as always, to stand by our election workers and the voters of Fulton County. We intend to vigorously pursue all available legal options.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Lawfare and MeidasTouch for comment.
