A conservative researcher whose theory has often been rejected by Georgia election regulators and who once pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of voyeurism has emerged as the central figure in an investigation that culminated in the FBI’s shocking seizure of 2020 election records from Fulton County, Georgia, in late January.
Researcher Kevin Moncla has repeatedly tried to prove that Fulton County’s 2020 vote was tainted by fraud. Many of his claims have been discredited or debunked, but they continue to be cited by President Donald Trump and those associated with Cleta Mitchell, the lawyer who helped Trump seek to overturn the 2020 presidential election and publicly pressured the Trump administration to reinvestigate the election.
Last week, Moncla told ProPublica that he had been questioned twice by “investigators and attorneys from various offices working on behalf of the United States government” regarding his claims that evidence of fraud could be found in Fulton County’s 2020 voting records. He said he provided data to support the complaint he filed with the Georgia State Board of Elections.
Other conservative activists associated with Mitchell also claim that Moncla’s activities helped facilitate government investigations related to Fulton County.
Two activists associated with Mr. Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network claimed that the Justice Department used files and evidence from Mr. Moncla’s research in prosecuting Fulton County over the same records seized by the FBI, according to a recording of a December video conference obtained by ProPublica. Activists said the Justice Department filed the lawsuit the day after it allegedly requested Moncla’s documents.
“They went to Kevin Moncla for that information,” Garland Favorito, leader of the Election Integrity Network, said by phone. (Mr. Moncla denied speaking with Justice Department officials, but did not say which agencies he had done business with.) Mr. Favorito also claimed to have sent the information to the Justice Department itself.
“The Department of Justice knows who to call to get the information they need,” he says. “Honestly, they rely on a lot of our stuff.”
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to answer questions related to Moncla, Favorito and Mitchell’s claims, instead referring ProPublica to televised comments from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche who said the Trump administration was “investigating issues surrounding the election to ensure a completely fair and proper election.” Blanche also said he could not comment on a criminal investigation.
Mr. Mitchell did not respond to ProPublica’s request for comment, but he pointed to information in a report written by Mr. Moncla on the day of the FBI raid as the basis for the action.
Screenshot via X
“This is the answer to everyone’s question, ‘Why did the FBI search the Fulton County election warehouse?'” Mitchell wrote on social media platform X, linking to Moncla’s report.
Favorito said he has “not had any contact with the FBI” and declined to answer specific questions.
It is unclear what evidence the federal government used to show probable cause for the attack because the underlying affidavit was sealed.
Last week, Fulton County commissioners filed a lawsuit seeking to unseal the affidavits, arguing that Moncla and Favorito’s “debunked theories” “supported the federal warrant.”
Experts said if the affidavit was based on information obtained from activists, it would raise questions about the legitimacy of the attack.
“If the underlying affidavit is based on thoroughly debunked allegations of illegal activity, I think that at least gives you a basis for arguing that probable cause does not exist,” said Daniel Lang, vice president of voting rights at the Campaign Legal Center.
Over the weekend, a judge ordered the affidavit to be unsealed by close of business Tuesday.
Moncla’s 263-page report, published in early January, is part of a multiyear campaign by Moncla, Mitchell and others to access Fulton County’s 2020 election records. He acknowledged that there isn’t much new in the report, but rather a compilation of complaints he and other contributors have filed with the Georgia Board of Elections over the past five years.
Many of the complaints were dismissed by the board after an investigation by Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State. Even when investigators verified aspects of the complaint, they found no evidence of wrongdoing.
In one high-profile example, investigators reported that a small number of discrepancies were due to “human error during data entry” and “not due to intentional misconduct by Fulton County election staff” and that they “did not affect the results of the 2020 Fulton County general election and were confirmed to be accurate.”
Moncler said he doesn’t trust the Secretary of State’s conclusions, calling him a “totally unreliable politician” and saying his own research proves that the problems with Fulton County’s 2020 vote went beyond human error.
The Secretary of State’s office did not respond to questions about Moncla’s criticism.
Mr. Trump and his lawyers continue to cite Mr. Moncla’s claims about election fraud in Fulton County, even as his past unsavory incidents have surfaced and other conservatives have criticized him as untrustworthy.
In 2004, Moncla pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of voyeurism for secretly filming guests in her bathroom, and was later awarded $3.25 million in damages by a jury.
Moncla told ProPublica that the issue has nothing to do with his election-related research. “It has nothing to do with this time,” he said. “It was about a custody battle in a divorce 20 years ago.”
In a lawsuit stemming from the 2020 election, lawyers for the conservative website Gateway Pundit called Moncla an “outrageous fraudster” and a “known fabricator,” according to court filings. The message was revealed in a defamation lawsuit against the website, which two Fulton County election officials accused of fraud. One of the site’s reporters was in communication with Moncla. The case ended in a settlement, but terms were not disclosed. Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was ordered to pay about $150 million to two election officials for making related and discredited claims.
Moncla said people are free to examine his research and make their own judgments. “I don’t want people to trust me,” he said. “We want people to trust the county’s records and facts,” he said, describing the report as “thoroughly documented.”
Moncla said she was surprised by the FBI raid on the Fulton County Election Center, which she learned about on Fox News. He also said he believed his report had been “misused” for political gain and that its findings should not be the basis for criminal proceedings.
“I’m not saying Trump won the election. I’m saying Georgia’s election system is broken and needs to be fixed,” he said. “I don’t want anyone to go to jail. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
