FBI Director Kash Patel has sent agents to the private homes of current and former election officials in Wisconsin, the latest expansion of a federal effort to revisit President Trump's debunked claims that he won the 2020 election. The Washington Post first reported the Milwaukee-area visits; agents had already spoken with Wisconsin's deputy election director before turning up unannounced at officials' homes.
Agents asked about two long-debunked conspiracy theories: a flash drive supposedly containing altered absentee-ballot results, and an unfounded claim that an unnamed Illinois man printed ballots for Joe Biden in a secret backroom. Among those visited was Michelle Hawley, Milwaukee County's elections director, whom agents approached at home rather than through her office. Claire Woodall, Milwaukee's former elections director, was also named in the reporting.
The Wisconsin visits follow the same pattern in other swing states: the FBI raided an election hub in Fulton County, Georgia, seized ballot images and election data in Arizona, and demanded ballots in Michigan. Local Wisconsin officials say they fear the bureau will next try to seize the state's absentee ballots, which because of a quirk in Wisconsin law can be traced to individual voters. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley publicly mocked Patel and characterized the home visits as an attempt to intimidate the president's perceived enemies. The inquiry traces in part to records-request litigation filed by Peter Bernegger, a convicted felon active in election-fraud claims.
No evidence of fraud altering the 2020 outcome has ever been found in Wisconsin or any other state (see Trump's DOJ Is Now 0-for-26 on Voter Roll Lawsuits, Losing Every Resolved Case for Access to States' Voter Rolls).