By Katelyn Polantz, Tierney Sneed, CNN
(CNN) — The Justice Department wants to interview some poll workers and ballot counters who participated in the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia, in a new effort to dig up details about the ballot-processing, prosecutors revealed at a court hearing last week.
A prosecutor working with a grand jury in Fulton County told a federal judge on May 19 that once the Justice Department has names and addresses of 2020 election workers in the investigation, federal investigators would try to talk to the workers.
“This would simply be a pathway to determine and speak with and interview certain individuals who worked at the polls who may have seen, heard or done something in and of themselves,” the prosecutor, William McComb, told the judge, according to a transcript of the hearing obtained this week by CNN and other media outlets.
Judge William Ray II had questioned how the department planned to use the election workers’ details.
“We’re simply asking for the employees and volunteers who worked with or had access to the ballots and the ability to contact them and question them as witnesses,” McComb said. “There is no other way beyond a grand jury subpoena in which to do that.”
The unusual investigative approach could potentially reinflate fraud theories that have been roundly rejected by several voting and law enforcement authorities about the result of the 2020 election, which President Donald Trump continues to want to avenge.
Joe Biden won more than two-thirds of the 517,000 votes cast for president in populous Fulton County, which includes Atlanta. Yet Trump has continued to say the 2020 election was rigged against him, and Justice Department leadership has used specially designated prosecutors to lead investigative efforts in Fulton County this year.
Fulton County’s elections office has asked the judge to block the subpoena for names of election workers, arguing that it is an invasive fishing investigation that could hurt civic participation around upcoming elections. The federal election workers’ names, addresses and phone numbers being turned over could prompt the Trump administration to “target and harass (Trump’s) perceived political enemies,” the county has said.
A lawyer for the county argued at the hearing that the subpoena is too broad and that it would attempt to reopen events that are past the timeframe that could result in federal criminal charges. The grand jury activity also could chill the county’s election workers from wanting to participate in future elections, the lawyer, Kamal Ghali, said in court.
“You know, an overbroad fishing expedition is bad and is not allowed. But one that’s not overbroad is kind of OK,” the judge said on May 19. “And the question is, how do we, how do I as a judge, decide when does it go too far?”
The hearing last week in Rome, Georgia, took place on the same day voters were casting primary ballots for governor and congressional candidates.
The judge pointed out that 2020 election workers who may not agree with the current administration may be concerned if their private information was turned over to the federal authorities and, potentially made public. He has not decided whether to stop the Justice Department from collecting the thousands of names and contact details.
The Justice Department, however, is arguing that the grand jury wants the data to determine whether there’s criminal investigative work to do about the 2020 election.
More details on the Justice Department’s reasoning for seeking the election workers’ details aren’t publicly available but may be submitted to the judge privately.
“As we sit here now, we are not sure what charges can be brought. That’s the whole point of the investigation,