President Donald Trump didn’t just watch the FBI raid a Georgia election office from afar—he got involved in a in a way that’s making constitutional scholars cringe.
According to a New York Times report, Trump personally spoke with FBI agents involved in the extraordinary raid of a Georgia election office, in an exceptionally unusual intervention that that’s sparking outrage.
The call happened after FBI agents executed a search warrant at the Fulton County facility that stored ballots, tabulator tapes, and other 2020 election records. Trump praised the agents, asked about their progress, and offered his personal encouragement—effectively inserting himself into an active federal investigation connected to the very election he has spent years trying to delegitimize.
Officials told the Times that the conversation was brief and “motivational,” but critics said it crossed a line. Normally, the president does not directly contact agents executing an investigation into a state election—especially one tied to his own false claims about the 2020 results.
The optics are even worse considering Gabbard’s role. Her position focuses on national security, not domestic criminal probes. Yet she was reportedly coordinating the call and facilitating Trump’s interaction with federal agents—raising questions about politicization at the highest levels.
“This is not just bad optics, it’s a serious threat to the independence of law enforcement,” one unnamed official told the newspaper. “Having the president personally on the phone while an FBI raid is ongoing is unprecedented.”
The raid itself was already controversial. Fulton County officials and election integrity observers have criticized it as heavy-handed, and local authorities plan to sue the Justice Department to challenge the legality of the seizure and reclaim the ballots. Trump’s campaign previously forced a third recount in Georgia after the 2020 election and filed multiple lawsuits attempting to overturn Joe Biden’s 12,000-vote victory in the state.
By being inserted directly into the operation via Gabbard, Trump has blurred the lines between political interest and law enforcement. Critics warn that the president’s involvement could undermine confidence in both the FBI and the integrity of election records, feeding claims of political interference in federal investigations.
White House officials defended the move as a matter of “ensuring election security,” but legal experts and lawmakers say the optics are catastrophic. In a moment already charged with partisan tension, having the president literally on the line with agents carrying out a raid tied to his election grievances is unlike anything seen in modern American history.
