Patel doubles down on FBI election hub raid, says Trump called agents directly to thank them for operation
FBI Director Kash Patel doubled down on his defense of the agency’s election hub raid in Fulton County, Georgia during a wide-ranging interview on "Special Report" Tuesday.Federal investigators "followed the parameters of the search warrant and secured the evidence," Patel told Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier."What you saw play out last week was the execution of that search warrant, just like we would do anywhere else. The target of that search warrant was a warehouse down in Fulton County," he said.On Jan. 28, FBI agents seized ballots, voting rolls and election records during a search of the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center tied to the 2020 election.Patel maintained the agency had "probable cause" to search the facility in Georgia, a state where President Donald Trump narrowly lost to former President Joe Biden.FBI AGENTS SEARCH ELECTION HUB IN FULTON COUNTY, GEORGIAWhile the FBI director refused to discuss further details of the search warrant due to it still being under seal, he explained how the raid was authorized."We did the same thing there we do in any criminal case or investigation," Patel said."We collected evidence, we presented that evidence to a federal magistrate judge, who made a finding of probable cause and said, ‘Here’s your search warrant, here are the parameters to that search warrant.'"FULTON COUNTY, GEORGIA TO SUE AFTER FBI SEIZES 2020 ELECTION RECORDSPatel went on to address Trump’s phone call with FBI agents following the search, after Baier noted it is "unusual" for a president to get involved on an "agent level."The agents appreciate that Trump "backs the blue," Patel replied, adding the president called to thank investigators personally."To hear from the commander in chief, from my troops on the ground there, was a pretty cool thing," Patel said. "And we are pleased to hear the president come in and say thank you for [what] you’re doing. That is maybe unusual from prior administrations, but I take it every chance
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