News Roundup: Sham Wisconsin Election Investigation Has Rough Couple Weeks

The partisan election investigation currently underway in Wisconsin has had a bumpy couple of weeks, thanks to a series of missteps by the attorney leading the review and confusion surrounding recent subpoenas issued to various county and city officials.

The Subpoenas: Two weeks ago, attorney Michael Gableman issued subpoenas for all election materials as well as testimony from several mayors and election clerks. The requests were criticized for their broad scope, and confusion deepened after Gableman backed off some of the demands then changed direction again late last week, saying in a radio interview that officials would still have to be interviewed. And then just this week, news reports indicated that none of the election officials would sit for interviews.

• According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, many of the records sought by Gableman had already been made public and provided to the Wisconsin Assembly’s Elections Committee. “It is not clear why Gableman is asking for those records, given that he is supposed to be working with the committee,” the newspaper reported.

American Oversight Lawsuit: What have not been made public, however, are records from Gableman’s investigation itself. Last week, we sued the Wisconsin Assembly and Speaker Robin Vos, who ordered the review under pressure from former President Trump and those pushing baseless allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election. 

• Within hours of our filing suit, a Wisconsin judge ordered Vos and the Assembly to “immediately” release the records or show cause for why they have failed to do so.

Coordination (or Lack Thereof) with Assembly Committee: Gableman is ostensibly working with the Elections Committee, which was authorized by the Assembly to conduct the sham investigation (and which approved the $680,000 in taxpayer money being spent on it). But the chair of the Elections Committee, state Rep. Janel Brandtjen — who has long pushed for an election “audit” in the same vein as the Arizona Senate’s recent bungled and conspiracy-tinged operation — is not pleased with Gableman’s work:

• Brandtjen said that her committee had not approved the subpoenas, and she objected to Gableman’s offer of immunity to mayors in return for their cooperation. (Gableman’s role is not that of a prosecutor. And, of course, no evidence has been presented that any crimes were committed.)

Gableman’s Troubling Statements: Last week, Gableman drew criticism for comparing the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to Joseph Goebbels. This came just days after Gableman said that he does not have “a comprehensive understanding or even any understanding of how elections work.”

• That self-proclaimed lack of understanding did not stop him from releasing a video last weekend in which he claimed that election laws might have been broken by state and local officials. He did not provide evidence or further explanation.

Doug Logan, the CEO of Arizona Senate’s inexperienced lead “audit” contractor Cyber Ninjas, said he would not conduct any more recounts because of the attacks he’s received from supporters of the Big Lie who are angry that the election review found that Biden had won Maricopa County. Those same voices continue to push efforts to undermine the 2020 election in multiple states.

• A few hundred Trump supporters rallied in Lansing this week for a “forensic audit” of Michigan’s election results.
• We’re investigating the “audit,” announced recently by the Texas secretary of state, of four counties. A Trump-supported bill in the Texas Legislature that would make it easier for officials to demand election reviews could cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

Here are some election- and voting-related headlines from across the country:

• Colorado county clerk who embraced conspiracy theories is barred from overseeing elections (Washington Post)
• Georgia ballot inspection case dismissed after no fraud found (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Internal audit finds 10 fixes needed in Fulton elections department (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Trump won the county in a landslide. His supporters still hounded the elections administrator until she resigned. (ProPublica and the Texas Tribune)
• Michigan Republicans replace local election officials in ‘unprecedented’ trend (Detroit News)

On the Records

Questionable Pandemic Loan
Citing supporting documents obtained by American Oversight, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis last week released new evidence that the Trump White House may have played a direct role in helping a trucking company secure a CARES Act loan meant for businesses deemed critical to national security. The records show White House officials communicating with former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin about the loan, which has been the subject of significant scrutiny.

Arkansas Deployment to Border
Two weeks ago, the Washington Post reported on documents we obtained from the Texas Department of Public Safety that revealed that Gov. Greg Abbott’s border crackdown, in which multiple states deployed National Guard troops to the border, had a weekly cost of $2.3 million. Now, the Arkansas Department of the Military has sent us records that show the political stunt has cost Arkansas taxpayers more than $115,000.

The Trump Administration and Unaccompanied Minors
In a February 2019 email, Trump DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told then-HHS Secretary Alex Azar that her department foresaw “an extraordinarily demanding and challenging time” because of the increasing numbers of unaccompanied migrant children (UAC) held in government custody. Noting that a plan to add more beds to a facility run by HHS would not be enough, Nielsen wrote, “The number of beds coming on line will not provide placements for the current UAC waiting at the border, let alone address the continuing high levels of daily apprehensions.” Read more here.

Other Stories We’re Following

National News

• Private equity funds, sensing profit in tumult, are propping up oil (New York Times)
• 20 state attorneys general sue of Postal Service slowdown (The Hill)
• Biden administration orders halt to ICE raids at worksites (Washington Post)
• CIA funding arm gave encrypted app Wickr $1.6 million (Vice)
• Prisons said it was Covid isolation. The incarcerated describe torture. (HuffPost)

Jan. 6 Capitol Attack

• Biden won’t invoke executive privilege on Trump Jan. 6 docs (Associated Press)
• Jan. 6 committee preparing to aggressively enforce subpoenas, may target former Trump DOJ official this week (Washington Post)
• Capitol Police whistleblower delivers scathing rebuke to two of its senior leaders on Jan. 6 (Politico)

Trump Accountability

• White tiger and cheetah furs: A mess of Trump gift exchanges (New York Times)
• Steven Mnuchin stepped in to prevent Ivanka Trump World Bank appointment (Intercept)
• Insider is suing the Biden administration for secret Trump and Pence staffing records (Business Insider)
• State Department investigating if Trump officials stole G7 gift bags meant for foreign leaders (Slate)

The Coronavirus Pandemic

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bans any Covid-19 vaccine mandates — including for private employers (Texas Tribune)
• Racial bias skewed small-business relief lending, study says (New York Times)
• Merck says its new Covid pill reduces the risk of hospitalization, death by half for some patients (CNBC)
• An FDA analysis suggests that J&J has not presented robust evidence for booster shots (New York Times)
• Hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops have not yet complied with vaccine mandate as deadlines near (Washington Post)
• Hundreds of police officers have died from Covid. Vaccines remain a hard sell. (New York Times)
• U.S. to reopen Canada and Mexico borders for vaccinated visitors (New York Times)

In the States

• Prompted by Abbott primary challenger, Texas agency removed webpage with suicide hotline, other resources for LGBTQ youth (Houston Chronicle)
• Head of Louisiana Police says he would welcome a DOJ probe into racial profiling (NPR)
• New ethics board thrust into South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem inquiry (Associated Press)
• Most abortions in Texas are banned again after court ruling (New York Times)
• ‘Disturbing’ imagery used in Arizona Department of Corrections training materials, patches (Arizona Republic)
• Video footage amid unrest after George Floyd’s death captures Minneapolis police discussing ‘hunting people’ (Washington Post)