News outlets seek to unseal DOJ subpoenas in Fulton County probe

Press freedom advocates are pressing a federal court to open sealed filings in the Justice Department’s Fulton County election probe, arguing that the public cannot judge the reach of a criminal investigation when the key subpoenas and court papers remain hidden. The fight lands in a case already shaped by extraordinary secrecy, a January FBI seizure of 2020 election records, and accusations from Fulton County that federal investigators are using criminal process to intimidate people who helped run the vote.

A group of news organizations, including NBC News, filed the motion to unseal the filings and subpoenas tied to the investigation. At issue is a grand jury subpoena issued in April 2026 that sought the names, home addresses, email addresses and phone numbers of every person who worked the 2020 election in Fulton County, including county employees and volunteers. County officials said the request could sweep in thousands of election workers and volunteers, far beyond any narrow inquiry into a single incident.

Fulton County moved to quash the subpoena on May 5, 2026, calling it “unprecedented and harassing” and arguing that it was overbroad, time-barred and aimed at frightening election workers. Board of Commissioners Chairman Robb Pitts said federal officials were trying to misuse criminal process and that the effort was meant to “intimidate and to chill participation in elections.” County lawyers also argued that the subpoena burdens First Amendment rights and intrudes on Georgia’s authority to administer elections.

The subpoena’s release followed a separate clash over access to records from the FBI’s January 28, 2026 search of the county’s election hub in Union City, Georgia. Court filings say agents seized nearly 700 boxes of ballots and records from the 2020 presidential election, including original ballots and voting machine records. Judge J.P. Boulee, a Trump appointee, had already ordered some search-warrant records unsealed in that dispute, underscoring how the Fulton County probe has become a test case for what the public can learn about an election-related investigation.

Democratic lawmakers from Georgia, including Sen. Raphael Warnock, Sen. Jon Ossoff, Rep. Nikema Williams and Rep. Lucy McBath, have also demanded answers from the Justice Department. Warnock said the subpoena does not appear limited to any specific incident, precinct, witness or irregularity, but instead seeks personal identifying information for election workers more than five years after the vote. Court filings connect the broader investigation to a referral from Kurt Olsen, a pro-Trump lawyer hired by the White House to examine the 2020 election, adding another layer to a case that continues to stir questions about accountability, secrecy and the treatment of the people who administered Georgia’s vote.