Judge voices frustration over delay in Vos email, texts

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By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A judge on Wednesday again voiced frustration that Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has not produced emails and text messages related to the investigation he ordered into the 2020 presidential election.

Dane County Circuit Judge Valeria Bailey-Rihn told Vos’s attorney that her patience was wearing thin as Vos has yet to produce deleted emails and other messages sought in the lawsuit brought by liberal watchdog group American Oversight.

The judge earlier this month gave Vos until Wednesday to provide the deleted email and text messages, or explain why they can’t be retrieved. Vos attorney Ronald Stadler told the judge on Wednesday that the work to retrieve Vos’ deleted emails from his legislative account was ongoing and he would need up to two weeks to review whatever is recovered.

“I don’t know if I’m getting back 200 emails or 200,000 emails,” he said.

Stadler also said he had an expert witness who would testify that deleted text messages could not be recovered.

Bailey-Rihn ordered Stadler to complete the search for emails by April 7 and set a hearing for that day to hear from his expert witness. She called that a “drop dead date.”

“That’s the last extension I’m going to give people,” she said. Bailey-Rihn, who is retiring in July, said she wanted to issue a ruling and conclude the case by then.

“We need to move on,” she said.

The case is one of three seeking records from Vos and the investigator he hired, former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who is leading a probe into the 2020 election won by President Joe Biden. Gableman released his most recent report earlier this month and Vos extended his contract through the end of April.

Vos on Tuesday said in an interview on WSAU-AM in Wausau that he may abandon subpoenas he’s issued to mayors, elections officials and others as part of the Gableman investigation.

Pulling the subpoenas, which are being challenged in a pair of ongoing lawsuits, could lead to the end of the investigation.

Vos said that rescinding the subpoenas could help some officials be prosecuted for crimes because anyone who has been subpoenaed by the Legislature has immunity from prosecution.

He didn’t say who could be charged or with what crime.

Three prosecutors have already declined to bring charges against state elections officials related to decisions they made in the 2020 election.

Vos, when reached by The Associated Press on Wednesday, texted “have to wait and see” when asked if he was going to withdraw the subpoenas.

Biden defeated Trump by about 21,000 votes in Wisconsin, an outcome that has withstood recounts, a nonpartisan audit, other reviews and multiple lawsuits.

Gableman began his investigation in June. He is being paid $11,000 a month under a contract Vos signed for $676,000 in taxpayer money.