Two Atlanta-based FBI intelligence analysts were fired last week after refusing to participate in the Trump administration’s investigation of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election, three people familiar with the matter told MS NOW.

The analysts, a husband and wife, told colleagues they did not believe the investigation was justified under FBI and Justice Department policies, the people said, adding that the couple was escorted out of their office. The FBI neither confirmed nor denied that the two analysts were fired.

“The FBI will always investigate credible allegations of matters related to federal elections,” an FBI spokesperson told MS NOW. “Every employee at this FBI is to uphold our mission and adhere to our standards, any deviation will not be tolerated.”

As MS NOW first reported on July 2, FBI Director Kash Patel has directed that about 260 intelligence analysts from around the country devote time to what a memo called a “priority investigation,” in Atlanta. Multiple sources said it was the probe into the 2020 election in Georgia, which Joe Biden won by nearly 12,000 votes.

After securing a judge’s order, the FBI seized 600 boxes of ballots and other materials from that election in January. The FBI affidavit in support of the search warrant included several claims about potential fraud that previously had been debunked by Republican-led investigations in Georgia.

The FBI memo says each analyst will be required to make 708 record checks by July 17. It’s not clear what information the analysts are being tasked to examine, but FBI officials and other sources say it would include material gathered in the course of the investigation, possibly including the ballots themselves.

One person familiar with the matter said analysts in one FBI field office were given a spreadsheet with 175,000 names — along with dates of birth —and that they have been tasked to run those names through a commercial database to check whether the individuals are alive and to determine a current address for each of them.

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Ken Dilanian

Ken Dilanian is the justice and intelligence correspondent for MS NOW.