Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington, as President Donald Trump looks on (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).
On Friday, the Department of Justice made a significant move by requesting a federal judge to pause a civil lawsuit involving an Atlanta-area court clerk. This request comes in the wake of the FBI’s raid on the Fulton County Elections Hub in Georgia, with the DOJ emphasizing the need to suspend the lawsuit until criminal proceedings are resolved.
In a court filing led by Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, the Trump administration appealed to Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash, Jr. The administration urged the immediate suspension of a civil case aimed at obtaining 2020 election records from Fulton County, records that the FBI has already confiscated.
The DOJ highlighted to Judge Thrash, who was appointed by Bill Clinton in 1997, that the records in question “appear to have been removed from Defendant’s possession pursuant to a criminal search warrant executed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” This underscores the complexity and interconnection between the civil and criminal aspects of the case.
The administration further elaborated that on January 28, 2026, federal law enforcement executed a search warrant targeting documents believed to be the pertinent ones in this case. This action coincides with Fulton County’s recent, albeit sealed, motion requesting the return of seized property.
Earlier in December, the DOJ initiated legal action against Fulton County Clerk of Courts Ché Alexander. This lawsuit was prompted by her alleged refusal to furnish election records upon demand by the Attorney General, purportedly breaching the Civil Rights Act.
The legal suit highlights a demand made by the Attorney General on October 30, 2025, directed at the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections. The demand sought “all records in your possession responsive to the recent subpoena issued to your office by the State Election Board.” This subpoena, dated October 6, 2025, requested a comprehensive array of materials, including used and void ballots, ballot stubs, signature envelopes, and corresponding digital files from the 2020 General Election in Fulton County.
But the DOJ evidently does not see a reason to push forward with the civil case as it already possesses, through a criminal search warrant, the ballots and other documents U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi demanded.
“Here, the criminal proceedings and the civil case appear to almost completely overlap. At issue are likely the same records, reflecting similar questions about the same transaction or event,” the DOJ said. “The records seized are the object of the litigation. Thus, this factor weighs in favor of [a] stay.”
In addition, the DOJ said “hypothetical criminal exposure” on the part of the clerk is another reason for a stay.
“The Civil Rights Division does not wish to interfere in a separate criminal proceeding of which it is not involved,” the filing said, stating that Alexander “will also be protected from having to answer in civil litigation what potentially would not be in her interest to answer as part of hypothetical criminal exposure.”
As reported by Law&Crime two days ago, Fulton County filed a motion under seal in federal court demanding the return of “all” seized files, including 2020 election ballots, tabulators, and voter rolls, following the FBI’s raid of a warehouse last week.
County Chairman Robb Pitts said Wednesday that the motion also “seeks the unsealing of the affidavit that was filed in support of the search warrant that the FBI used to raid our warehouse.”
The DOJ addressed the warrant and probable cause in its motion to stay.
“The records at issue in this litigation have already been found to a probable cause standard by a Magistrate of this Court to either be (1) evidence of a crime; (2) contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed; or (3) property designed for use, intended for use, or used in committing a crime,” the government said.
Pitts, remarking that DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s presence at the raid signified “something sinister” is “going on,” told a reporter that he agreed Fulton County is “in fact the epicenter” of President Donald Trump’s recent calls to nationalize elections.
“They’re fixated on 2020,” Pitts said, seeing the raids as the “first step of whatever they’re going to do to suppress voters” in 2026.
