Hello, and welcome (back) to The Franchise!

My name is Khaya Himmelman, and I'm a reporter at Talking Points Memo covering voting rights and the assault on election administration. I'm excited to announce that TPM is reviving The Franchise, our weekly newsletter on elections and voting rights in America as the Trump administration continues its assault on election administration, the franchise and democracy overall. 

There's a lot to cover in this space, especially the Trump Justice Department's continual interference with states' right to administer their own elections.

For this first week back in action we're going to dig in on: new details and lingering questions in the FBI's Fulton County raid, the dredging up of very old and very uncreative 2020-era conspiracy theories, and the latest in Trump's relentless nationwide redistricting battle. 

As always, there's a lot to catch up on. Let's dive in.

— Khaya Himmelman

So Why Was Tulsi Gabbard There?

A lot of new details (and some unanswered questions) have come out in recent days related to the FBI's raid of Fulton County, Georgia's election administration hub late last month. 

We know that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was present at the Fulton County FBI raid. And even though we've gotten an official statement from the DNI on her presence at the raid…. It remains unclear and bizarre that she was there in the first place, and the answers from the Trump administration to these questions have been conflicting.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told CNN on Sunday that Gabbard "happened to be present in Atlanta" and also said he does "not know why the director was there; she is not part of the grand jury investigation."

But, in a letter on Monday, Gabbard responded to questions from Democrats about her presence at the raid and confirmed that she was there because her "presence was requested by the President" and "executed under my broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security." Democrats in Congress had raised concerns about Gabbard's involvement in the FBI seizure of Fulton County's election materials, specifically questioning why an intelligence official was involved in a raid related to a domestic issue. 

"The involvement of the director of national intelligence in a domestic criminal matter — far outside her statutory role — only deepens those concerns and demands immediate scrutiny," Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said in a statement Monday.

We now know, too, according to the New York Times, that while there Gabbard facilitated a phone call the day after the raid between Trump and some of the FBI agents in Fulton County, during which the president thanked them for their work. 

And on Thursday, Trump said during the National Prayer Breakfast that Attorney General Pam Bondi insisted on Gabbard being present for the raid.

"They say why is she doing it? Because Pam wanted her to do it," he said. 

If this all sounds weird, it's because it is.

So weird, in fact, that Georgia Democrats sent a letter to Bondi on Tuesday asking for an explanation as to why Gabbard was present. 

Alongside the Gabbard weirdness and Trump's phone call, Fulton County Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr. announced earlier this week that the county is filing a motion to challenge the seizure of 2020 ballots, calling the FBI search warrant "not proper."

"I've asked the county attorney to take any and all steps available to fight this criminal search warrant," he added. 

The Wall Street Journal has reported that Gabbard is now the top administration official carrying water for Trump's fixation on his 2020 election loss. The DNI "has spent months investigating the results of the 2020 election" and is "leading the administration's effort to re-examine the election and look for potential crimes," in the WSJ's words, citing White House officials. The story got weirder still on Wednesday evening, with Reuters reporting Gabbard's team had inspected voting machines and data in Puerto Rico last year. Sources told Reuters she was looking for evidence Venezuela hacked the territory's election, a detail Gabbard's office did not confirm.

Fulton County Raid Dredges Up (Far Too) Familiar Conspiracy Theories

In a surprise to nobody, the FBI's recent Fulton County raid has dredged up a lot of 2020 election conspiracy theories. 

In a Truth Social post this week, Trump posted a conspiracy theory video about the 2020 election and the staggering "1.5 million fraudulent votes," the dead people voting, the "illegally processed votes" (It's unclear what this last one even refers to).

And all the usual election deniers have come out of the woodwork too: Kari Lake, Cleta Mitchell, Liz Harrington. 

The debunked claims they're all resurrecting are similar and go something like this: 2020 was stolen! There were more ballots than people! Fulton County is just the beginning! We need even more investigations!

Harrington even suggested that the Trump administration "Build a real RICO case for the conspiracy that was the 2020 election." 

It goes without saying but let me just repeat this here: multiple prior investigations have found no basis for Trump's false claims of widespread voter fraud, including investigations into his debunked allegations about Fulton County, specifically. 

Here's what Justin Levitt, Professor of law at Loyola Marymount University, told TPM about the uptick in conspiracy theories. 

"People should take whatever public federal announcement that comes out of this process as seriously as if they announce that they found Bigfoot and Nessie in the Fulton County elections office."

Around The States: The Latest In Redistricting News

While the courts have given President Trump some wins and dealt some blows to his nationwide gerrymandering assault in an effort to pressure red state legislatures to change their congressional district maps mid-cycle to try to predetermine control of Congress before the midterm elections, Democratic efforts to offset the impact of Trump's redistricting blitz continue to gain momentum. Here's the latest: 

Maryland

The Maryland House approved a new Democratic-led congressional map on Monday.

The proposal now heads to the state Senate, where it has been met with some opposition from Democrats. 

Virginia

Last month, a county circuit blocked Virginia's Democratic-led redistricting effort. Democrats appealed this ruling to the state court of appeals. 

On Monday, Democratic Virginia Attorney General Jones requested to join the legal fight to push the proposal forward.

The court of appeals has now sent the case to the state supreme court for a decision. 

California

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that California can use its Democratic-favoring new congressional map, which was created, with permission from California voters, to help offset the impact of Texas' gerrymandering. Texas was, of course, the first state to jump to please Trump when he first began his pressure campaign. 

The court denied a Republican request to block the map.

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