BOMBSHELL: Trump executes plan to SEIZE BALLOTS

This is Democracy Watch. Mark, we know. that there was a search warrant executed. in Georgia to seize the ballots from. 2020. This is actually a much much. bigger story than I think uh most of the. media is letting on. So, can you explain. why this is particularly chilling as far. as you're concerned what we're seeing in. Georgia? >> Yeah, look, Brian, this may be the most. important video you and I have ever done. and the most important story going on in. the country right now. And that's saying. a lot because I know how much is going. on in the country. So, I'm just going to. say at the outset, we're going to cover. a lot of stuff and I need you to watch.

to the end and then I need you to share. this video with other people in your in. your uh social media feeds because. people un need to understand that what. we are seeing in Fulton County is not. just about Fulton County. It's not even. just about the 2020 election. It is. about Donald Trump trying to figure out. how he can seize ballots. And why does. he want to know how he can seize. ballots? because in front of us only 10. months from now are the 2026 midterm.

elections. And he has actually been. telling us in various interviews and. various statements he's made that he. wished he had seized the ballots in. 2020, that he doesn't even think there. should be elections in 2026. Well, he. can't cancel the elections. But what he. can do is he can learn from this. experience of seizing ballots from a. past election to then work with Pam. Bondi and the FBI and others. We're. going to get into all of this. So again, I need you to pay attention to this one.

He can work with them to then figure. out, okay, what did we learn from. seizing these ballots in Fulton County? What did we learn about what people will. do to object? What did we learn about. what the courts may do? What did we. learn about how we then have to count. the ballots, right? Because seizing them. is part of it, but then creating a false. result is another part that may be a. false result on counting them wrong, maybe a false result in making up.

results. It may be a false result that. Brian, you and I talked about in a prior. video in which Tulsi Gabbard and the. intelligence community and Marco Rubio. and Pete Hex and all of them come. forward and say actually the entire. election was fraudulent because there is. this there's this international. conspiracy against us. So this is very. very serious stuff and Brian and I are. going to cover a lot. So, like I said, pay attention, subscribe to this. channel, make sure you hit the bell. because in the next 10 months, we're.

going to be posting a lot more content. on these kinds of subjects, and I need. you to stay informed and to share what. you learn with others. >> Mark, the first question I have here is. we're obviously going to see uh the. administration try to use anything as. kind of legal justification now so that. this creates some type of precedent that. they can lean on in the future and they. can say, "Oh, look, we've already taken. these ballots. Now we know how to do it. This is not dissimilar to what we saw by. deploying the troops to Los Angeles and.

Portland and Chicago. And by doing it. now, the administration will then have. the legal justification, the legal. rationale to be able to say, "Okay, look, we can do it now. Clearly, we can. do it in November of 2026 or November of. 2028." And that was swatted down at the. Supreme Court. So, we we were lucky to. see that that development. But would a. lawsuit right now against what we're. seeing in Fulton County eliminate the. precedent that they're that they're. trying to establish that would give them. cart blanch to be able to seize ballots. from different jurisdictions.

>> Right. So I want to actually use the. analogy you used because I think it's. instructive. Donald Trump first went into Los. Angeles, a very big city, and he. actually went into a relatively small. part of it and he used the National. Guard. And from that experience, he. learned a couple of things. Number one, he lost. He wound up losing in court. later uh in a case that said he couldn't. use the National Guard. So by the time. we get to Minneapolis, he's not using. the National Guard. He's using ICE and. Border Patrol. The second is by relative.

standards, the level of brutality and. the level of terror in the community. between Los Angeles and now has gotten. much worse. Right. So, so he has both. found a better legal footing and he has. found a more effective way of. terrorizing communities and and causing. and sudden chaos. >> And so my point is he started here by. seizing old ballots, right? These are. ballots from 2020. And look, do I think.

this ought to have led the news on all. the legacy news outlets? Yes. Do I think. this ought to have been a banner. headline breaking on all of the the. major newspapers? Yes. But it wasn't. And it wasn't because it is the old. ballots. But here's the thing. The same. way that Donald Trump learned from Los. Angeles to Chicago, Chicago to Portland, and then Minneapolis, and by the way, he. will have learned from Minneapolis to. whatever comes next, right? This is. going to just escalate. He is learning.

from this Georgia Fulton County. situation how to more effectively and. efficiently engage in election. deniialism, voter suppression and and. election subversion. And so that's why, like I said, we are doing this video. It's the reason why Democracy has been. covering this. It's the reason why I've. told you you need to subscribe to this. channel because we're going to see that. same progression, right? Like consider. this the Los Angeles deployment. Yeah. But we're going to get to the. Minneapolis and beyond in the same way.

that we saw it there. >> I would highly recommend to that exact. point, there is no better news outlet to. cover any of this stuff than Democracy. Docket, which is the news outlet Mark. founded to focus on everything voting. and elections. That is the number one. source that I use especially especially. on issues related to voting and. elections and what we're seeing in. Georgia right now. If you're not yet. signed up as we head toward the. election, if you care about this issue. at all, which is foundational, you need. to sign up for Democracy Docket. So, I'm. going to put that link right here on the. screen and also in the post description. of this video. Um, Democracy Docket is.

covering what every other legacy media. outlet refuses to do. So, you need to. make sure to sign up as we head toward. this next election. Mark, can you talk a. little bit about what the culmination of. his efforts might be? Like we we know as. it relates to these troop deployments. that okay, if he can find an effective. enough way to incite enough violence. that would actually justify some troop. deployments, that's his goal. That's as. it relates to the troop deployments. wants these boots on the ground to be. able to, you know, go in and seize. voting machines or block off uh block. off streets to minority majority.

precinct polling places, whatever it may. be. As it relates to the election uh the. the ballots specifically, what could he. do? You know, what's the culmination of. his efforts? What could he do if he has. access to these ballots? What does it. look like if Trump, you know, is able to. um hone his skills a little bit, learn. from learn from previous mistakes and, you know, come November of 2026, having. spent the last 10 months, uh, getting. better at this, what does that look. like? >> Yeah. So, I think of a few things. Number one, he wants to desensitize the.

public. Like, he's done actually a. pretty good job. Like, there's not the. kind of outrage and protests over these. or these ballots in in in um uh in. Georgia uh that there should be. So he. wants to make it normal that the federal. government sees his ballots when in fact. it is completely unprecedented for the. federal government to seize ballots. That's number one. Number two, like he. will have set up a prosecutorial. department of justice infrastructure. around executing search warrant around. obtaining search warrants. Like what did.

we have to tell the judge in order to. get a magistrate to get the search. warrant approved? like I don't know if. it went through on the first try or not. the first try but like but like they. have they have built that me muscle. memory that they can use and also the. actual Caesar of the ballots like what. to expect how many boxes of ballots. there are like like where do you find. them what are the right all of that now. that doesn't fully solve his problem and. I don't want people to think that this. is now a foregone conclusion because. there are other obstacles that would be. in his way where there was actually an. election going on or where the election.

had just taken place but he is starting. to put together a team of people. I. mean, one of the stories that again has. not been widely reported is this search. warrant was executed by a US attorney in. Missouri. In Missouri. Now, there's a. reason why he picked the US attorney in. Missouri. In the same way, Brian, that. remember that first he called it the. National Guard from states, then there. was like moving people from other states. into states. like he has figured out not.

not uh not surprisingly that it's harder. to get the US attorney's lawyers in. Georgia to seize the Georgia ballots. than to get the US attorney's office. apparently in Missouri to seize the. ballots. Right. So like again that's a. learning he has had uh and and he has. and again it's been not been widely. reported by legacy media but uh we now. know that that US attorney in Missouri. has been given nationwide jurisdiction. over all claims of election fraud. So.

now he has built this and will grow this. team in Missouri, not a battleground. state, not a state that will be central. to control of Congress probably. And. they will have this expertise and. manpower to as they move this forward. Now again, I don't want people to give. up hope. We never give up hope. We fight. them in court. We fight them in the. court of public opinion. We educate. ourselves and we we we make sure that. they are not able to subvert free and. fair elections. And we've been. successful at doing that in the 2020. election cycle. I represented President.

Biden and the Democrats and we prevented. that that from happening then. In 2022, didn't get as much coverage, but there. was effort by Republicans to refuse to. certify accurate election results in. 2022. We went to court and we won. Right. now, my team and I, we are in, you know, as Brian said, all of these courts. around the country in uh and in a lot of. them to try to prevent the Trump. administration from getting the. sensitive voter data. Now, why is that? They're trying to get the voter data. because that is again another. foundational principle, another.

foundational tool that they could use to. subvert the election results. So, we're. in court. We've already had some early. wins, no losses yet. Knock on wood. We'll see how it goes from here. But, if. we're able to thwart that, that will be. a big roadblock. But, it's going to be a. lot of pairing back and forth because he. hasn't picked the lock yet, but he's. working on it. And that's why he told. the New York Times he wished he had. seized the ballots in 2020. It's why he. told Reuters that he that he doesn't. think there should be midterm elections. And it's why he told Davos that, you.

know, there going to be prosecutions of. of of his political enemies, which we've. already seen. Like, we'd already seen. political uh prosecutions of his. enemies, but there are going to be more. So, we all need to steal our spine. We. need to stay informed. We need to be. proactive in spreading good, accurate. information. I hope you subscribe to. Democracy. I hope you subscribe to this. channel because there's going to be a. lot of fights in front of us. Mark, can. you talk a little bit about what the. Trump administration is able to do uh or. or is permissible to do with with regard. to ballots from a past election versus.

what he's able to do with an ongoing. election? Because, you know, the the. 2020 election, it's already been. adjudicated. And so, I I'm I don't think. that it's as closely guarded, especially. in the judicial system, as it would be. if we are, you know, on election day or. in the leadup to the election day when. ballots are already being cast. And so, can you talk a little bit about that? >> Right. So that look, that's a tool and a. safeguard that we have, right? Which is. that I think courts are going to be a. lot more skeptical. I think state. election officials will be a lot more. protective of ballots in a current.

election rather than the past election. That's not to suggest Fulton County was. not protective, but I'm just saying like. I think there would be a lot more. outrage, a lot more public outcry. Even. the legacy media would have to contend. with it and the courts would be a lot. more skeptical. But again, I come back. to this question. What did they tell the. magistrate judge in Georgia that got a. federal magistrate judge to issue this. warrant? Right? This had to be approved. by a federal magistrate. And what did. they tell them? Because on the one hand,

you're exactly right. Like these are old. ballots. They're not, you know, affecting the on an ongoing election. On. the other hand, Brian, the statute of. limitations for any of these crimes, if. there were any crimes, and there. weren't, but the statute of limitations. for the crimes that they alleged to. justify this warrant is 5 years. So, what is it that the that the magistrate. saw? What did the FBI agents tell them? What's in the affidavit supporting this. that led a federal magistrate to say,

"You know what? I'm going to sign off on. this.". >> Will we ever get access to that. information or is that completely under. seal? So I So it's under seal now, but I. think that is the first legal battle. that has to be fought, right? There are. ways that those affidavits can be. unsealed, that these materials can be. made public. We need that. We need. demands for that. We need people to go. to court who have standing to go court. for it. We need congressional oversight. for it. We need public pressure just. like there was around the Epstein files. because that will be the thing that. unlocks what was told. And look, I don't.

know what's in that affidavit. Obviously, it was under seal, but we've. seen lots of instances of false. affidavit being filed and false. statements being made to federal judges. And you know, we need to see what's in. it. But we also need the federal judges. to like I mean, how many videos have you. and I done where we talk about the. presumption of good faith? literally is. my next question is is why I mean I I. again I don't know what happened with. with whatever affidavit was presented to. this magistrate judge, but why is the. Trump administration after all of this.

still benefiting from the presumption of. regularity as if there's some as if. they're a DOJ that's acting in good. faith when they've proven time and time. again that that they're perfectly. content to lie and obuscate and delay. and do whatever they have to do uh to. manipulate the court system. >> Right? So, what people out there need to. know is that in order to get a search. warrant, right, to get a subpoena, it's. just a grand jury subpoena. I mean, it's. not just, but but it's relatively easy. for a prosecutor to do that. To get a. search warrant, though, they need to go.

to a a judicial officer, either a a. judge or a magistrate who works for a. judge. Okay? And so, they need to. establish probable cause before a judge. Okay? Uh, and that should be not too. high a barrier, but it should, but you. know, the person looking at the. paperwork there knows what they're. doing. The problem is, and this is not. unique to this case, the problem is, you. know, federal magistrates, and I'm going. to stick up for this magistrate for a. second, like federal magistrates, they.

get a ton of requests for arrest. warrants, for for uh for search. warrants, right? And like they are in. the business of reviewing the paperwork. assuming that the FBI coming to them is. like operating in good faith, right? Like like there's a like there's a. volume to this stuff that they just. assume that the agents coming to them. are coming to them on the up and up and. when they tell them that you know. there's a drug house where there are you. know the following evidence of drug. paraphernalia that that's true. And the.

problem is we cannot be giving that. benefit of the doubt to this. administration in cases that involve, for example, ballots, right? Or frankly. in Minnesota around immigration cases. And you saw a federal magistrate in in. Minnesota refused to issue an arrest. warrant against Don uh Don Lemon. Yeah. Uh because the magistrate judge is like, "Wait a second." Like I this this you. know, they looked more skeptically. And. that made a lot of news because that is. rare that that happens that if.

magistrate judge says no, I'm not going. to issue an arrest warrant. Well, we. need more magistrate judges in election. cases where it comes to things like this. to like put on their hat of skepticism, not put on their hat of normaly and not. give the benefit of the doubt. But but I. can't promise you Brian that every. magistrate judge is going to do that. But one of the ways we're going to we. need to get us there is we need there to. be more publicity about these things, more outcry and for people to understand.

what the stakes are. That's why I. founded Democracy Docket in 2020. It's. why I write about these things today. It's why Brian and I do these videos. It's why I implored you to subscribe to. this channel. It's why I've implored you. to watch the end of this video and share. it with a friend. Because like I said, this may wind up being the most. important issue in the 2026 election. And this video may wind up being the. most important video we do because it's. foundational to what we may see coming. down the road. >> And I want to ask one last question.

here, and this kind of combines. everything that we've spoken about over. the last several months here, and that. is this idea of of Trump getting all of. the pieces in place that he needs for. 2026. We've spoken about the troops. being deployed across the country and. him trying to figure out some legal. justification um uh to to justify these. deployments and also now him trying to. find some legal rationale to gain access. to uh voting equipment to ballots. We. know. >> voter roles we know that Donald Trump.

wanted to take the voting machines seize. the voting machines back in 2020. He had. neither the legal justification to do it. a compliant DOJ. Bill Bar said his whole. scheme was and he had no. troops, no no boots on the ground. Now. he has all of them. I mean, he's got, you know, troops deployed all across the. country and and is engaged in these. legal battles to determine whether he's. able to keep doing it. But right now, he. he has troops uh all across the country, specifically in Minnesota and uh and and. Maine at the moment. He now has a.

compliant DOJ with Pam Bondi, Cash. Battel, Todd Blanch, all of, you know, Tulsi Gabbard, this whole cast of. characters, perfectly willing to to. listen and do whatever he wants. And now. we have him engaging in this process. where he was obviously successful on. step one in convincing a magistrate to. to grant him access to this information. And so, can you talk a little bit about. what we may be looking at 10 months from. now as we head toward uh the 2026. election if he's able to get all of.

these pieces in place where he would. have boots on the ground to affectuate. these plans, legal rationale to be able. to do it, and a DOJ that's perfectly. content to back him up. >> Yeah. Look, there's only three stumbling. blocks in his way, and let's just lay. them out. The first is the people. themselves, right? like like. fundamentally you can suppress the vote. by intimidating people or. inconveniencing them. And the people of. Minnesota have shown that they're. willing to be inconvenienced and they. won't be intimidated. And it may be that.

in this election you're going to need a. lot more you're going to need voters to. be a lot braver and willing to brave, you know, uh checkpoints and not. convenient parking and and other and. other things. So like number one, it's. on us as voters to make sure that we are. registered and that we know our rights. as voters and that we exercise our right. to vote and we are not deterred or. dissuaded or intimidated. So like that's. that's number one probably most. important is the people. Number two are. the states, right? Like we need the. states to stand up against this. administration. We need states to.

understand their rights under the. constitution to set the time, place, and. manner of elections and to count votes. and to not allow the federal government. to bully them. And that's going to be a. bit of a mixed bag because, you know, we. keep focusing on the Democratic states, but but you know, there are House seats. up in in Texas, you know, there are. House seats up in Florida, like, you. know, right? So, this is going to be a. little bit more of a mixed bag, but we. but we need states to do everything they. can to stand tall against uh against. this administration. Then, finally, we're going to need the lawyers. We're.

going to need lawyers who are willing to. do the hard work of go to court. You. know, I always talk about the fact that. I was involved in the 2020 elections and. how proud I am of that work. There were. a lot of lawyers and a lot of big law. firms were standing by my side in those. cases and and you know, I'd ask myself. where I ask you now, where are those law. firms now? You know, if you remember. this, one of the storylines of 2020 was. Donald Trump couldn't get any of the big. law firms to work for him. He couldn't. get even small law firms to work for. him. And that was part of the reason why. they wound up with these crackpots. Well, I ask yourself going into 2026,

how many big law firms are going to. stand by my side? How many big law firms. are going to stand by the counties and. the state's side in these fights? I can. tell you in the 24 cases that where. Donald Trump is trying to get the voter. files, my law firm of 60 lawyers is in. every one of them. And not a single. large law firm is with us. Not a single. large law firm is in any of those cases. And so the question is, will the will. the courts hold, but will the lawyers be. there to bring these cases, or are they.

going to be afraid? Are they just going. to be like, you know what, we're not. getting in between Donald Trump and. election annihilism? Like, we may be. willing to disagree with the. administration on some things, but on. their core issue, we're not going to. we're not going to be there. And so, look, I'll do everything I can. I mean, I hope everyone out there knows that. I'll fight to the bitter end. He can. call me names. He can he can threaten. me. He hell he sued me for rakateeering. in in Florida and lost. I didn't settle. I fought that case. We won, right? Like.

he can do whatever he wants towards me. and my law firm. But but like I said, we're 60 lawyers. We're going to do the. best we can. We need a lot more lawyers. and a lot more law firms willing to take. on these fights. And that is the other. thing that I'll be that, you know, you. and I will be covering in the months. ahead and we'll be talking about. candidly and honestly. Uh and uh we'll. see where we are. Well, look, I I think. that this is the perfect example of why. we need to elevate your voice if for. nothing else than to give uh to give a. kick in the ass to any other lawyers out.

there to know that what you're doing is. the virtuous position is the righteous. position. So, a small step that we can. all do all take right now to elevate. Mark's voice um is to subscribe to. Democracy Docket. I'm going to put that. link right here on the screen and also. in the post description of this video. Again, this is the kind of work that we. need to elevate right now. This is the. kind of work that we need to support. especially especially as we head toward. this midterm election. So again that. link is right here on the screen and. also in the post description. I'm Brian. Taylor Cohen. >> I'm Mark Elias. >> This is Democracy Watch.