Fulton County took action Wednesday to retrieve troves of 2020 election documents seized by the FBI last week and asked a federal judge to unseal the case file so they can see what grounds the U.S. Department of Justice used to justify the raid.

Fulton Commission Chair Robb Pitts told reporters the federal criminal case against the county is about more than elections in Fulton or Georgia. He said it’s about the future of the nation.

“We will fight using all resources against those who seek to take over our elections,” Pitts said at a news conference. “Our Constitution itself is at stake in this fight.”

The FBI has said little about what prompted the raid, but The Atlanta Journal-Constitution spoke with the author of a report critical of Fulton’s 2020 election performance, who said he was interviewed by a Justice Department attorney about two weeks before the raid.

FBI agents loaded up trucks with hundreds of boxes of election documents using a warrant signed by a federal magistrate judge. But any affidavit or supporting documents that would offer a glimpse of the information officials gathered about Fulton’s 2020 election before the raid remain under seal.

Kevin Moncla, a conservative activist and the author of a report summarizing allegations from a group that has long claimed Fulton’s election was fraudulent, told the AJC that he spoke with a U.S. attorney over the phone about some of those accusations last month.

Moncla said at least one other person who contributed to the report also spoke to federal officials. The conversations could offer a glimpse into how the Trump administration obtained the warrant to seize Fulton’s 2020 records.

Moncla has a contentious history surrounding the 2020 election in Georgia. In 2023, the State Election Board asked the FBI to investigate him after he sent emails to board members demanding they investigate the vote.

“There will be no more excuses. I am putting you on notice that I will be holding you accountable,” he wrote in an email to one board member. “You can either properly investigate our complaints and verify the facts or I will show you publicly in the media.”

The composition of the State Election Board has changed dramatically since then, with new appointees more open to claims of electoral fraud in 2020, despite numerous investigations, lawsuits and multiple vote tallies that upheld the outcome of Trump’s narrow loss.

President Donald Trump has been fixated on Fulton County and Georgia ever since his defeat, and he has promised the raid will produce the long-sought proof that he won the state.

“You’re going to see something in Georgia where they were able to get with the court order and the ballots,” he said on former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino’s podcast on Monday. “You’re going to see some interesting things come out.”

The president also suggested what legal experts have described as an unprecedented move, saying Republicans should consider nationalizing elections or taking over administering elections in up to 15 states he claims he should have won in 2020.

While many questions about the administration’s efforts linger, Pitts said that Fulton might be a test case about what’s to come.

“This is probably the first step in whatever they’re going to do to depress voter participation, voter registration, making whatever changes they think are necessary to help their case in 2026, but more importantly in 2028,” he said on Wednesday.

Pitts, a Democrat, also wrote to the county’s legislative delegation on Wednesday, saying the focus should now be centered on future elections.