Trump DOJ allowed to keep hundreds of seized ballots in 'rare court win'

A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that the Trump Department of Justice can keep the ballots it seized from the Fulton County election office in Georgia, according to reports.

U.S. District Judge Jean-Paul Boulee ruled that Fulton County's lawyers had not established that the Trump DOJ showed "callous disregard" for the county's rights, CBS News reported. Even so, he noted that the Trump DOJ's affidavit was "defective" in some instances and made "troubling" omissions about the voting mechanisms, according to the report.

Reuters described the ruling as a "rare court victory" for the Trump administration.

"It will allow the FBI to keep possession of more than 600 boxes of 2020 ballots as it pursues a criminal investigation into whether election records were not properly retained or whether residents in Fulton County, ⁠which includes most of Atlanta, were defrauded out of a fair election," Reuters reported.

"But the investigation still faces significant obstacles," the outlet added. "DOJ lawyers have not identified any individual targets of the probe and have not disputed claims that the statute of limitations appears to have expired on both crimes prosecutors have said they are investigating."