Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Trying to Block Attempts to Have Him Identify Records Illegally Destroyed

Wednesday, February 9th, 2022 -- 10:00 AM

(AP) Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is trying to block a liberal watchdog group’s attempts to have him identify records that were illegally destroyed related to the ongoing investigation into the 2020 presidential election.

Vos argues that he has no knowledge of any destroyed records that were requested by American Oversight, a response the group calls “non-responsive and evasive.” It wants Vos to be found in contempt of court.

Dane County Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn scheduled a Tuesday hearing on American Oversight’s request for additional information. She is expected to rule on the overriding contempt of court request after March 16, the deadline for both sides to submit their final arguments.

American Oversight has filed three lawsuits seeking various records from Vos and Michael Gableman, the former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice he hired to run the probe with $676,000 in taxpayer money.

Vos, under pressure from former President Donald Trump, hired Gableman in June to conduct the investigation. American Oversight argues that Vos made no effort to determine whether records that should have been made public were instead destroyed.

The group has already questioned Vos and his office’s attorney, Steven Fawcett, in private. Fawcett also testified in open court last month, saying he didn’t review records Gableman turned over to see if they were response to American Oversight’s records request.

Vos tried to stop his own deposition, but the Wisconsin Supreme Court ordered it to proceed and Vos sat for it on Jan. 12. Transcripts of Vos’s and Fawcett’s depositions were also included in an American Oversight motion filed with the court last week asking for information about records that might have been destroyed.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.