Vos Fights Attempts to ID Illegally Deleted Election Probe Records

Assembly speaker claims he doesn’t know his official Twitter password, rarely looks at official email, and only communicates by phone with Gableman and Trump.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) is trying to block a liberal watchdog group’s attempts to have him identify records that were illegally destroyed related to the secretive, ongoing investigation into the 2020 presidential election he ordered last year.

The group, American Oversight, wants Vos to be found in contempt of court for claiming he has no knowledge of the illegally destroyed records and for stalling and refusing to release information about the work of former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman. The conservative retired justice,  associated with several allies of former President Donald Trump, has several times run past the deadline Vos set for the investigation, which was given a nearly $680,000 budget in taxpayer funds. 

American Oversight is seeking records that may show more about the motivations and support behind so-called investigations in Wisconsin and other states. Earlier, Vos extended the court process by trying to get out of giving a deposition in the case. The conservative-led state Supreme Court rejected his request and Vos was deposed by American Oversight attorneys last month. Transcripts reviewed by The Associated Press show Vos claimed little to no knowledge about open records requests.

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According to the transcript in the American Oversight court filing, Vos repeatedly said he’s not aware of details about open records requests his office receives because there are so many of them. Vos said he delegates the responsibility of handling those to his office’s attorney, Steven Fawcett.

Vos said that he didn’t know whether his searches had captured deleted texts or other communications over which he had control. For example, Vos said he doesn’t control his official Twitter account and doesn’t even know the password to access it.

Vos also said he only communicates with Gableman by phone. Vos said he’s also spoken with Trump by phone and that is also the only way they communicate.

Only five people in Wisconsin out of more than 3.2 million who cast ballots in the 2020 election have been charged with fraud, and multiple reviews have shown there was no widespread fraud. President Joe Biden won Wisconsin by just under 21,000 votes, an outcome that has withstood recounts, lawsuits, and multiple reviews.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.