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Florida man charged with doping conspiracy to influence major sporting events, including 2024 Olympics

February 17, 2026 7:03 PM UTC / Reuters

Feb 17 (Reuters) – A Jacksonville, Florida, man has been charged by a federal indictment after a U.S. attorney said on Tuesday he conspired to influence major international sports competitions through doping, including the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Paul Alexander Askew, 46, conspired to provide performance-enhancing drugs to an athlete in a bid to influence athletics competitions from around July 2023 through January 2024, U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe said in a press release.

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Among the events the alleged conspiracy sought to influence are the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships, the 2024 United States Olympic Trials, and the Paris Olympics, according to the indictment.

An indictment is a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

If convicted, Askew faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said in a statement it welcomed the indictment under the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act, which was signed into U.S. law in 2020 and empowers American prosecutors to seek fines of up to $1 million and jail terms of up to 10 years, even for non-Americans if their actions affected American athletes’ results.

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“While athletes face clear sanctions under the World Anti-Doping Code, others have escaped responsibility for undermining the integrity of sport,” USADA said in a statement.

“Without RADA, this indictment of an athlete support person never would have happened, demonstrating how it can be a powerful complement to the Code in ensuring that all those who engage in doping fraud are held accountable.”

Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto Editing by Toby Davis

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Belgium accuses U.S. ambassador of disinformation for claims of antisemitism over circumcision case

February 17, 2026 / 11:54 AM EST / CBS News

Belgium’s government summoned U.S. Ambassador Bill White for consultations on Tuesday after he accused the country of antisemitism, intervening in a case involving three Jewish religious figures suspected of carrying out traditional circumcisions without the medical training required in the country.

Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot called the American diplomat’s allegations “dangerous disinformation” and demanded that White respect Belgian institutions and the independence of the country’s courts, and added that personal attacks and interference broke diplomatic norms.

Belgian public broadcaster VRT reported that authorities were investigating three men in the city of Antwerp accused of performing circumcisions without medical training. Local authorities conducted searches of the three men’s homes in May, according to a statement from the Antwerp Police.

White, in a social media post on Monday, labelled the investigation antisemitic harassment and called on the country’s health minister to immediately “make a legal provision to allow Jewish religious MOHELS to perform their duties here in Belgium.”

U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Bill White talks to media after a meeting at the Belgian foreign ministry in Brussels, Feb. 17, 2026. Marius Burgelman/BELGA MAG/Belga/AFP/Getty

A mohel is a Jewish religious official who performs traditional circumcisions, often without any formal medical training. The practice is not banned anywhere in the U.S., though some higher-risk aspects of the tradition have caused controversy in areas with large Orthodox Jewish communities.

“It’s done in all civilized counties [sic] as legal procedure. BELGIUM is a civilized country. Stop this unacceptable harassment of the Jewish community here in Antwerp and in Belgium,” White said in his post on X. “It’s 2026, you need to get into the 21st century and allow our brethren Jewish families in Belgium to legally execute their religious freedoms!”

“Any suggestion that Belgium is antisemitic is false, offensive, and unacceptable. Belgium condemns antisemitism with the greatest firmness. The fight against antisemitism, and all forms of hatred and discrimination, is an absolute priority for our country,” Prévot said in her own post on X. “Labeling Belgium as antisemitic is not just wrong, it’s dangerous disinformation that undermines the real fight against hatred.”

White shot back with another post, responding to Prévot that, “it’s not ok to simply say we ‘follow the law’ and ‘we are not antisemitic’. Both of those things can’t be true in this case.”

White said he would visit the three accused men in Antwerp, and he asked Belgium’s minister of health to join him.

Prévot said Belgian law “permits ritual circumcision when performed by a qualified physician under strict health and safety standards,” adding that he would not comment on an ongoing investigation.

Drop in unauthorized immigration slows job growth, SF Fed paper finds

February 17, 2026 6:03 PM UTC / Reuters

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Item 1 of 2 A construction worker is shown at work on a multi-unit residential housing project in Encinitas, California, U.S., July 28, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake

[1/2]A construction worker is shown at work on a multi-unit residential housing project in Encinitas, California, U.S., July 28, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

Feb 17 (Reuters) – The recent drop in unauthorized immigration to the United States has slowed employment growth, particularly in construction and manufacturing, and those trends are likely to continue, new research from the San Francisco Federal Reserve published on Tuesday shows.

The study looked at the rapid rise in unauthorized immigrants beginning in 2021 and the slowdown that began in March 2024, and found that local job growth grew, and then shrank, in lockstep with those immigration trends. The findings could have important implications for the job market outlook and for housing affordability, given the ongoing crackdown on immigration during Donald Trump’s second term as president.

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Revisions to jobs data published last week showed the U.S. economy added only 181,000 jobs in 2025, a fraction of the 1.459 million jobs added in 2024, the final full year of former President Joe Biden’s term. Economists have linked the slowdown to the sharp drop in immigration, but this latest study helps make that link concrete by its detailed analysis of unauthorized worker inflows and the impact on local labor markets.

“On average, places experiencing the biggest slowdowns in unauthorized immigration saw the biggest slowdowns in employment growth in construction, manufacturing, and other services,” wrote Fed economists Daniel Wilson and Xiaoqing Zhou. “The effect for the construction sector is particularly notable, because it suggests that falling UIWF (unauthorized immigrant worker flows) in recent months could be slowing residential construction and hence slowing down the growth of housing supply.”

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The Trump administration has said the reduction in immigration will benefit American workers, and will help make housing more affordable by reducing demand for homes.

“U.S. employment growth is likely to face continued downward pressure as long as the ongoing declines in unauthorized immigrant worker flows continue,” the study’s authors wrote.

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Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Andrea Ricci

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FIRST ON FOX:President Donald Trump is stepping in to fix the sewage leak rocking the Potomac River, with the White House vowing the president will not allow local lawmakers’ infrastructure “failures” to slide on his watch.

“President Trump will not allow the failures of local and state Democrats to diminish the quality of life for millions of Americans,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital Tuesday.

“In line with the President’s promise to make Washington, D.C. safe and beautiful, President Trump is fixing the disaster exacerbated by Maryland Governor Wes Moore, whose gross mismanagement has allowed millions of gallons of raw sewage to be dumped into the Potomac River,” Rogers said. “Just like Governor Moore has failed to address the crime crisis in his state, he has also failed to make long-overdue repairs to Maryland’s water and wastewater infrastructure.”

Trump is on a tear, calling on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other federal government agencies to protect the Washington, D.C., water supply after a sewage pipe interceptor rupture in January that released an estimated 240 million gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac. The president has directed his ire toward Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on the issue, claiming alleged incompetence led to the disaster.

[TRUMP SLAMS MARYLAND GOVERNOR, LAUNCHES FEDERAL EFFORT TO PROTECT POTOMAC AFTER HISTORIC SEWAGE SPILL]

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The White House is lambasting local leaders in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia for the sewage spill in the Potomac.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Trump reiterated Tuesday that Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., leaders are “responsible for the massive sewage spill in the Potomac River” and that if they can’t handle the clean-up and prevention, “they have to call me and ask, politely, to get it fixed.”

“The Federal Government is not at all involved with what has taken place, but we can fix it,” Trump posted to Truth Social Tuesday. “But remember, even in that case, with the Democrat Shutdown, we’ll have to bring in true Patriots to do the work because many are not working right now. These Democrat caused Disasters, both River and Shutdown, will only get worse.”

“The two Governors and the Mayor of D.C. must act, IMMEDIATELY. This is a Radical Left caused Environmental Hazard,” the president continued. “With all of their talk about carbon footprints and everything else, they’re allowing hundreds of tons of sewage to pour into the Mighty Potomac, making it much less mighty. ACT FAST. I am awaiting your call. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The administration argued to Fox News Digital that Maryland has state regulatory enforcement authority over Potomac River waters, including rules requiring sewage operators to report, monitor and mitigate unauthorized discharges that threaten public health.

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Millions of gallons of raw sewage poured into the Potomac River after the underground pipeline collapsed on January 19. According to the Potomac Riverkeeper Network and researchers at the University of Maryland, fecal-related bacteria and disease-causing pathogens in the Potomac River reached levels more than 2,700 times the safe limit. ((Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Officials faulted the state for an alleged slow response and lack of prompt coordination with federal entities despite the ruptured D.C. Water line running adjacent to — and over — federal lands. They also said Maryland failed to ensure infrastructure installed in the 1970s remained serviceable as demand changed over the past 50 years, and accused the state of offering little substantive public communication since last month even as other jurisdictions issued updated advisories.

The administration pointed Fox News Digital to a series of infrastructure grades the state of Maryland received from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), which found the state had a C+ grade for its wastewater infrastructure, and the same grade for its stormwater infrastructure in 2025. The administration described the grades as “nearly failing.”

[TRUMP TELLS MEXICO TO FIX CROSS-BORDER SEWAGE PROBLEM FLOWING INTO US COMMUNITIES ‘IMMEDIATELY’]

All in, the state earned a C grade for its infrastructure, with its transit and energy infrastructure receiving the lowest grades, at D+ marks for both, while its ports and solid waste infrastructure receiving the highest marks at B scores, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2025 report.

[TRUMP, MOORE SPAR AS CORDIAL ARMY-NAVY CLIP RESURFACES]

ASCE State report cards are released every four years. Maryland’s infrastructure grades from 2025 were largely unchanged from its marks in 2020, when the state also received an overall C grade.

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Maryland Gov. Wes Moore spoke out on social media following a fatal Border Patrol shooting in Minneapolis on Saturday.(Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images))

Moore spokesperson Ammar Moussa blasted Trump over pinning blame for the leak on Maryland in a previous statement, saying on Monday that Trump got his “facts wrong — again.”

“Since the last century, the federal government has been responsible for the Potomac Interceptor, which is the origin of the sewage leak. For the last four weeks, the Trump Administration has failed to act, shirking its responsibility and putting people’s health at risk,” Moussa said. “Notably, the president’s own EPA explicitly refused to participate in the major legislative hearing about the cleanup last Friday.”

“Apparently the Trump administration hadn’t gotten the memo that they’re actually supposed to be in charge here,” Moussa said.

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President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to blast the handling of the sewage leak and prevention in Washington, D.C.(Mark Schiefelbein/The Associated Press)

Moore’s office argued the White House’s latest statement and claim that Maryland is to blame for the leak is “factually incorrect,” while underscoring the origin of the leak falls under federal review.

“Mr. President, this spill is basically contained,” Moore posted to X Tuesday. “So could you approve the @FEMA funding to help Western Maryland rebuild after the historic floods last year? @Sec_Noem, tagging you here too for good measure. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The sewage issue has attracted demands cutting across the political spectrum to clean up the issue and prevent it from happening again, including environmentalists focused on ending pollutionin the Potomac.

“I want them to fix the problem, come up with a real, meaningful spill prevention plan or something like this could never happen again,” Dean Naujoks with Potomac Riverkeeper Network told DC News Now in February of the spill.

[BRIDGE COLLAPSE AID BECOMES ECONOMIC WEAPON IN ESCALATING TRUMP-MOORE FEUD]

Trump took a direct shot at Moore for the sewage leak Monday, calling it a “gross mismanagement of local Democrat leaders,” while directing federal officials to “immediately provide all necessary Management, Direction, and Coordination to protect the Potomac, the Water Supply in the Capital Region, and our treasured National Resources in our Nation’s Capital City.”

“This is the same Governor who cannot rebuild a bridge. It is clear local authorities cannot adequately handle this calamity,” Trump said of Moore, referring to a dragged out timeline to rebuild the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge on the Baltimore Beltway.

[image_5]

Repair work continues on the broken section of the Potomac Interceptor, a six-foot-wide sewage pipe that collapsed on January 19, in between the Clara Barton Parkway and the C&O Canal on Feb. 16, 2026 in Cabin John, Maryland(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

[CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP]

Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz contributed to this report.

Anderson Cooper to depart “60 Minutes” at end of season, with multiple stories still to run

February 17, 2026 / 2:47 PM EST / CBS News

Anderson Cooper is leaving CBS News’ “60 Minutes” at the end of this season after 20 years with the celebrated newsmagazine. He’ll still report multiple stories in production for “60 Minutes” before the season ends in May, according to the show.

Cooper, who is also a primetime anchor on CNN, said in a statement that he decided to leave his role at CBS to spend more time with his children.

“Being a correspondent at ’60 Minutes’ has been one of the highlights of my career. I got to tell amazing stories, and work with some of the best producers, editors and camera crews in the business,” Cooper said. “For nearly twenty years, I’ve been able to balance my jobs at CNN and CBS, but I have little kids now and I want to spend as much time with them as possible, while they want to spend time with me.”

CBS News expressed gratitude for his work on the long-running program.

Anderson Cooper Michele Crowe/CBS Broadcasting Inc.

“For more than two decades, Anderson Cooper has taken ’60 Minutes’ viewers on journeys to faraway places, told us unforgettable stories, reported consequential investigations and interviewed many prominent figures,” CBS News said in a statement. “We’re grateful to him for dedicating so much of his life to this broadcast, and understand the importance of spending more time with family. ’60 Minutes’ will be here if he ever wants to return.”

Cooper appeared on Sunday’s broadcast of “60 Minutes,” introducing a short video essay from documentary filmmaker Ken Burns about what he thinks would surprise America’s Founding Fathers about the U.S. ahead of its 250th anniversary.

Cooper started working as a correspondent for “60 Minutes” in the 2006-2007 television season through an agreement between CBS News and CNN. He previously contributed stories to “60 Minutes II,” a onetime spinoff of the broadcast.

His departure follows a tumultuous time for “60 Minutes,” which premiered in 1968. Last spring, the show’s third executive producer in its history, Bill Owens, left the network, saying it has “become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it.”

Owens’ exit came while “60 Minutes” was at the center of a lawsuit that President Trump filed against Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, during the 2024 presidential campaign over the broadcast’s interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.

Paramount ultimately settled with Mr. Trump last summer for $16 million. The settlement didn’t include an apology. The chair of Paramount’s board at the time, Shari Redstone, had recused herself from talks about the settlement as the Federal Communications Commission was reviewing a merger between Paramount and David Ellison’s Skydance Media.

A few weeks after the settlement, the FCC cleared the way for the merger to move forward.

Negotiations between the United States and Iran advanced Tuesday toward what Tehran described as the beginning of a potential framework, but sharp public divisions between the two sides underscored how far apart they remain.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the two sides reached a “general agreement on a number of guiding principles” and agreed to begin drafting text for a possible agreement, with plans to exchange drafts and schedule a third round of talks.

“Good progress was made compared to the previous meeting,” he said, adding that while drafting would slow the process, “at least the path has started.”

Yet Washington publicly has insisted that any agreement must result in the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program — including its enrichment capacity — along with limits on Tehran’s ballistic missile program and an end to its support for allied militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Those demands go well beyond temporary enrichment pauses or technical adjustments.

Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appeared to push back directly against that premise, signaling a firm ceiling on Iran’s concessions.

“The Americans say, ‘Let’s negotiate over your nuclear energy, and the result of the negotiation is supposed to be that you do not have this energy!’” he wrote on social media as talks were underway. “If that’s the case, there is no room for negotiation.”

Khamenei’s remarks suggest that while Iranian negotiators may be discussing limits or interim measures, Iran is unlikely to accept an agreement that eliminates its nuclear program outright — setting up a direct collision with the Trump administration’s insistence on dismantlement.

“Progress was made, but there are still a lot of details to discuss,” according to a U.S. official. “The Iranians said they would come back in the next two weeks with detailed proposals to address some of the open gaps in our positions.”

President Donald Trump said Monday he would be watching the talks closely.

The mistrust runs deep.

Iranian officials have pointed to U.S. military strikes on their nuclear facilities in June 2025 as part of the broader backdrop complicating diplomacy, arguing such actions demonstrate Washington’s willingness to use force even as negotiations unfold.

Behind the diplomatic push, the United States has significantly expanded its military footprint in the region. The USS Abraham Lincoln is operating in the Arabian Sea, and F-35 fighter jets from the carrier shot down an Iranian Shahed-139 drone recently after it approached the strike group — a move U.S. officials described as demonstrating low tolerance for provocations.

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, is now transiting toward the Middle East. President Trump confirmed the deployment on Feb. 13, saying, “In case we don’t make a deal, we’ll need it.” Reports indicate a third carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush, is being prepared for possible expedited deployment, which would create a rare three-carrier U.S. presence near Iranian waters.

The buildup extends beyond naval forces. A squadron of F-35A Lightning II aircraft landed at RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom earlier in February as a staging point for potential deployment to the Middle East, while satellite imagery shows additional U.S. aircraft — including F-15E Strike Eagles and A-10 Thunderbolts — positioned at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.

Logistics flights into the region have also surged.

More than 100 C-17 cargo aircraft have arrived since late January, transporting advanced air defense systems, including Patriot and THAAD batteries, to bases in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, according to defense tracking data.

At the same time, Iran’s leadership has paired diplomatic engagement with forceful warnings.

Khamenei said the United States could be “struck so hard that it cannot get up again,” and a senior commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy declared the country is prepared to close the Strait of Hormuz if ordered — a move that could disrupt roughly one-fifth of global oil flows through the strategic waterway.

Despite the heightened rhetoric and military signaling, Iranian officials said talks would continue, framing the Geneva discussions as a step toward a possible agreement — even as the fundamental dispute over dismantlement versus preservation of Iran’s nuclear capabilities remains unresolved.

Fox News’ Nick Kalman contributed to this report.

Bayer proposes $7.2 billion settlement to resolve Roundup weedkiller cases

February 17, 2026 / 2:28 PM EST / CBS News

Bayer said on Tuesday that its Monsanto chemical subsidiary has proposed a $7.25 billion settlement to resolve lawsuits by customers alleging that its Roundup weedkiller product caused non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

If the settlement wins court approval, Monsanto would make annual payments for up to 21 years. People diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma who were exposed to Roundup before the proposed legal remedy was announced on Tuesday can file a claim to receive payments, according to Reuters.

Bayer said in a statement that the agreement does not include any admission of liability or wrongdoing. Bayer said these resolutions will increase its litigation liability from 7.8 billion euros ($9.2 billion) to 11.8 billion euros ($13.9 billion).

Bayer, a German agricultural and pharmaceutical company, also said Tuesday that it had reached agreements to resolve other Roundup-related cases. Those additional settlements, whose exact terms were not disclosed, would amount to about $3 billion, Reuters reported.

Bayer has faced thousands of lawsuits linked to Roundup since it bought Monsanto in 2018 for $63 billion. In 2020, Bayer announced it would pay up to $10.9 billion to settle some 125,000 filed and unfiled claims. Three years later, a jury awarded a California man $332 million after deciding that Monsanto had failed to adequately warn consumers about the risks of using Roundup.

Roundup is still available for sale online and from other major retailers. Bayer maintains that Roundup products are safe and that their ingredients have been thoroughly tested and reviewed.

Edited by Alain Sherter

No DNA match in database from gloves found during Nancy Guthrie investigation, officials say

Updated on: February 17, 2026 / 1:57 PM EST / CBS News

A DNA profile recovered from gloves found during the investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie in Arizona that was submitted to a national database maintained by the FBI didn’t come back with any matches, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday.

The profile was submitted to the database known as CoDIS, or Combined DNA Index System, Tuesday morning, the sheriff’s department said.

The DNA profile of an unknown male was recovered from gloves that investigators found about 2 miles from Guthrie’s home, according to the FBI. The glove appeared to match the ones seen on the suspect in Guthrie’s Nest doorbell camera video.

The DNA database could have provided a match if the individual had a previous arrest for certain crimes and supplied a DNA sample that put him into the system.

The gloves were found in a field near a roadside, the FBI said. It was one of 16 gloves found in various areas during the search, but most of them were determined to belong to investigators who had discarded them, the FBI said.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.

Laura Geller and Anna Schecter contributed to this report.

Mississippi holds hearing on xAI data center amid environmental lawsuit threat

February 17, 2026 5:00 PM UTC / Reuters

By Valerie Volcovici

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xAI logo is seen in this illustration taken, February 16, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Mississippi regulators will host a public hearing on Tuesday over plans by Elon Musk’s xAI to build a gas-fired power plant to power its Colossus II data center, as the company faces a lawsuit threat by the NAACP, accusing it of violating federal law by installing and operating gas turbines without air permits.

The civil rights group, acting on behalf of the largely African American local community living near the existing Colossus I facility in Memphis, Tennessee, said xAI began illegally installing and then operating 27 gas turbines at a site in Southaven, Mississippi to power Colossus II, sited across the state line in Memphis.

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It said this was being done without properly obtaining the necessary preconstruction or operating air permits required by the Clean Air Act.

AIR QUALITY

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“Pollution from these turbines is worsening and will continue to worsen the already poor air quality in Southaven, Mississippi and the Memphis metropolitan area,” the NAACP said in a letter declaring its intent to sue xAI.

xAI was not immediately available for comment.

The NAACP said the turbines have the potential to emit a significant amount of smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx), above the Clean Air Act’s “major source” threshold, and other pollutants including fine particulate matter and carcinogenic formaldehyde, harming largely African American local communities.

The Clean Air Act requires plaintiffs to signal their intent to sue 60 days in advance.

xAI has been rapidly building its Colossus supercomputer which is being used to train the company’s Grok AI chatbot in Memphis and expanding to Southaven. It is currently in phase 2 and is seeking to begin a third phase soon.

After the Southern Environmental Law Center, which is representing the NAACP in this new lawsuit threat, filed an intent to sue xAI in 2024 for installing 35 non-permitted turbines at its Colossus 1 site, the company removed 20 turbines and obtained permits for the remaining 15.

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality hearing is the only chance for the public to weigh in on the project, which SELC has said will be the largest new source of pollution in the area around Memphis in years.

The DEQ said xAI has submitted permit applications for 41 permanent turbines at the site and will run a number of temporary turbines while the applications are being reviewed.

Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by David Holmes

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Fulton County accuses Justice Department of misleading the judge who approved elections office search warrant

PUBLISHED Feb 17, 2026, 1:21 PM ET / CNN

By [Tierney Sneed]

Ballots from the 2020 election are loaded onto trucks by the FBI at the Fulton County elections center in Georgia on January 28.

Mike Stewart/AP

Officials in Fulton County, Georgia, accused the Justice Department of making “serious” omissions in the application the FBI filed to obtain a search warrant for [2020 election ballots] last month.

The local officials, who are seeking the return of the election materials, wrote in a court filing Tuesday that “instead of alleging probable cause to believe a crime has been committed,” the FBI’s application “does nothing more than describe the types of human errors that its own sources confirm occur in almost every election—without any intentional wrongdoing whatsoever.”

[Fulton County] bashed the FBI for not informing the magistrate judge who approved the warrant that the allegations of election “defects” it was putting forward had been previously investigated. The local officials also took the FBI to task for not including information in the application that would cast doubt on the credibility of the witnesses the federal criminal probe apparently is relying on.

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CNN has reached out to the FBI and the Justice Department for comment.

[Related article Georgia state elected officials attempt to access the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center but are turned away after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executed a search warrant there in relation to the 2020 election, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the matter, in Union City, Georgia on January 28, 2026. Alyssa Pointer/Reuters Breaking down the evidence DOJ used to justify searching a Fulton County elections office 5 min read]

[Kurt Olsen], a 2020 election denier now serving in the White House who made the referral that launched the criminal probe, has been sanctioned by multiple courts, the new Fulton County filing noted. The county also argued that other witnesses the affidavit cited lacked election administration expertise or reached conclusions based on speculation.

The seizure of the election materials last month came as President Donald Trump has remained fixated on the false idea that the 2020 vote was rigged against him. A federal judge will hold a hearing next week on the county’s request that those materials be returned. The judge previously granted the county’s request to unseal the warrant application materials, including an affidavit by an FBI agent that revealed the search was being justified with long-standing and already-scrutinized claim.

Fulton County responded to those allegations Tuesday with a declaration from Ryan Macias, an election technology and security expert who has worked on thousands of elections.

He said the FBI’s affidavit was full of “gross mischaracterizations of the facts of how elections work and are directly at odds with the findings and conclusions of all of the prior investigations of the November 2020 election in Fulton County.”