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The Justice Department has installed a Missouri-based U.S. prosecutor to head the Trump administration’s election probe in Fulton County, Georgia, according to recent court records, marking the latest instance in which an out-of-state prosecutor has been tasked with a leading role in a politically charged case.
The involvement of Thomas Albus, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, was revealed last month when he signed off on a Fulton County search warrant that authorized the FBI’s raid of a key Georgia election hub. The warrant authorized federal agents to seize a broad range of election records, voting rolls, and other data tied to the 2020 election, according to a copy reviewed by Fox News Digital.
The news, and the timing of Albus’ appointment, have sparked questions over the scope of the effort, including whether it is a one-off designed to shore up election-related vulnerabilities ahead of the midterms or part of a broader test case for expanded federal authority.
It also prompted Fulton County officials to sue the FBI earlier this month, demanding the return of the seized ballots.
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The FBI’s decision to order the raid remains unclear, adding further uncertainty as to why Trump may have tapped Albus.
But the scope of the case is significant. Fulton County officials told reporters this month that FBI agents were seen carrying some 700 boxes of ballots from a warehouse near the election hub and loading them into a truck.
More answers could be revealed soon. The judge assigned to rule on Fulton County’s motion ordered the Justice Department to file by 5 p.m. Tuesday the arguments it made in its effort to obtain the search warrant.
But it’s unclear how much information will be revealed as many of the documents are widely expected to remain under seal.
Still, the installation comes as Fulton County emerged as “ground zero” for complaints about voter fraud in the wake of the 2020 presidential elections, including from Trump, who lost the state to former President Joe Biden by a razor-thin margin.
And while it’s not the first time Trump’s Justice Department has sought to assign prosecutors to issues outside their district lines, unlike other efforts, the legality of Albus’s role in the district is likely to be upheld.
Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly tapped Albus last month to oversee election integrity cases nationwide, according to multiple news outlets.
The DOJ did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the nature of his role in Georgia or elsewhere.
Under federal law — 28 U.S. Code § 515 — Bondi has the legal authority to appoint an individual to coordinate civil and criminal cases, including grand jury proceedings, across all federal districts nationwide.
Albus also spent years as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Justice Department, where he helped prosecute hundreds of federal cases and jury trials, including on charges of white-collar crime, tax offenses, public corruption, and more.
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Still, his installment is not completely without criticism.
Some have played up his role as a former deputy attorney for then-Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt in 2020.
Schmitt, now a U.S. senator, was one of 17 Republican attorneys general who filed a brief supporting Trump’s push to invalidate the election results of four battleground states after the election.
There are key differences between his installment and the installment of former Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan, tapped last year to serve as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. She was also the sole prosecutor who secured the indictments against former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
A judge ruled in November she was illegally appointed to her role, prompting the dismissals of both cases.
Legal experts have cited differences between Halligan’s role and Albus’s role, which appears to enjoy wide protection under federal law.
“Unlike Halligan, Albus’ appointment appears to be lawful under a federal statute that permits the attorney general to direct ‘any other officer of the Department of Justice’ to ‘conduct any kind of legal proceeding, civil or criminal … whether or not he is a resident of the district in which the proceeding is brought,’” Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney and University of Michigan Law School professor, said in a Bloomberg op-ed.
“But sidelining Atlanta U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg in favor of Albus is concerning nonetheless — especially given his ties to Trump allies.”
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