MAGA stalwart Steve Bannon has declared that Donald Trump’s FBI raid in Georgia was part of a master plan to keep control of Congress and the White House by finally proving that the 2020 election was rigged.
Days after agents seized ballots and other voting material relating to Trump’s defeat in Georgia six years ago, Bannon has revealed what he says was the real reason for the surprise raid: to vindicate MAGA’s longstanding view that Joe Biden was an illegitimate president and seize victory at the next two elections.
The former Trump adviser has also warned Democrats that the federal government plans to deploy ICE officers to patrol polling stations during this year’s midterm elections.
“Yes, it is about 2026, and it’s about 2028,” Bannon said of the FBI raid on his War Room Podcast, in reference to November’s midterms and the next presidential election.
“We’re never going to ever allow you to steal the election like you did in 2020, and you’re not going to use illegal alien invaders.”
Bannon is a former senior advisor to Trump and still a figure of influence in the administration.
His comments came days after Trump urged Republicans to “nationalize” elections and place voting under federal authority, in one of his most explicit signs yet that he wants to game the system.
Such a move would be extremely difficult given the U.S. Constitution gives state governments primary authority to determine how elections are conducted—including how they are cast, counted, and certified.
However, Cato Institute Senior Fellow Walter Olson said that Trump had repeatedly been willing to use executive orders to drive his agenda, so “we should be properly vigilant” ahead of November’s midterms.
“This trial balloon for a federal takeover is not coming from any ordinary official,” Olson said.
“It is coming from a man who already once tried to overturn a free and fair election because it went against him, employing a firehose of lies and meritless legal theories, and who repeatedly pressed his underlings, many of whom in those days were willing to say “no,” about schemes such as sending in federal troops to seize voting machines.”
The FBI raid took place last week when agents, issued with a warrant, descended on Fulton County’s elections offices to seize about 700 boxes of 2020 election documents.
But mystery surrounds the case, with the FBI yet to name anyone in Georgia as a target for a criminal prosecution, and officials are yet to explain why the material was seized.
The presence of Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, also raised eyebrows and concerns about national security and political interference.
The raid outraged local officials and voting rights advocates, particularly after dozens of challenges to the results of that election yielded no credible evidence of widespread voter fraud.
But election deniers are thrilled by the move, adamant that their claims of voter fraud in Georgia in 2020 will be legitimized by Trump, who said this week that “interesting things” were about to happen in Georgia.
“It’s a crime scene,” Bannon said of the Fulton County election hub where the FBI executed its search warrant.
“It held the physical evidence of the stolen 2020, and they know it was stolen... We’re going to set things right on 2020. We’re going to hold them accountable and make criminal charges against the people who stole the 2020 election.”
Asked about the raid on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was part of a a coordinated, whole-of-government effort to ensure that our elections, again, are fair and transparent moving forward."
However, officials in Fulton County have asked a federal court to order the FBI to return ballots and other documents seized.
“This case is not only about Fulton County,” said the county chairman, Robb Pitts. “This is about elections across Georgia and across the nation.”
