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Madison, Wisconsin (AP) — A former judge of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin was hired to investigate. Victory of President Joe Biden On Thursday in the fierce battle state, he testified that he regularly deleted records and invalidated his personal email account, even after receiving an open record request.
Michael Gableman Contempt of court on whether to face penalties after it was previously discovered that Republican chairman Robin Vos, who hired him, despised how he handled record requests from US overseers. I testified for my sins.
Valerie Bailey Lin, Dane County Circuit Judge, opposed penalizing Voss for contempt, but later decided whether to penalize Voss for how he handled the open record request. Said. She held a hearing on July 28th.
Bailey Rhein said Gableman often gave conflicting testimonies, but it was clear that he had broken the record “contrary to what fits the plan of things.”
Voss hired Gableman a year ago under pressure from Donald Trump to investigate the defeat of former President Biden in Wisconsin with just under 21,000 votes. According to this survey, taxpayers have so far paid about $ 900,000. Biden’s victory has survived two recounts, multiple proceedings, independent audits, and reviews by conservative law firms.
Gableman has released two interim reports, but his work faces a barrage of bipartisan criticism. Vos put his work on hold this spring until the outcome of a lawsuit disputing the ability to summon civil servants and others involved in the election.
Gableman testified Thursday that he had done early work on the investigation at a library in the Milwaukee area and used his personal email account. Gableman said he did not hold any notes he took during the meetings he attended, including the August meeting in South Dakota hosted by My Pillow founder Michael Lindell. He also testified that he had deleted the record if there was no request for a pending open record, and determined that it was useless or inappropriate for his job.
“Did you delete the document? Yes, you did,” he said.
Gableman testified that someone in his office deleted his personal Yahoo mail account after he received an open record request from American Oversight. Gableman used that account last summer before getting the official state email address.
The judge asked Gableman if he had searched for responsive records before deleting his account and said, “I think so.”
“Do you remember especially coming back, I don’t remember,” Gableman said. “But I would have looked up all the email accounts I could use.”
Gableman also revealed that he had to go to the COVID-19 emergency room after attending an election conference hosted by Lindel in August.
“I went there because I thought there would be solid evidence of China’s interference with the (voting) machine, and I was very disappointed with the lack of substance to support those claims,” Gableman said. Said. “And I was angry that I had gone out, and as it turned out, I had a COVID. Anyway, I couldn’t find anything that could be used at the seminar. “
When asked the judge, Gableman said that “I didn’t have a very sophisticated or complex understanding”, so understanding how elections work is also included in the study.
Gableman smiled as he stood on the stand, calmly answering questions from the judge and American oversight lawyer Christa Westerberg for over 90 minutes. He made an ironic remark about Westerberg two weeks ago when he testified in another case in which he was a defendant.
Gableman refused to answer the question at the hearing, and last week Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington accused Gableman of being a non-professional and misunderstanding. The judge referred the case to an office that regulated state lawyers who could be fined $ 2,000 a day and could be disciplined until he responded to a request for public records.
Gableman I appealed the ruling.
Voss and Congress claim that they are not responsible for the records held by Gableman’s office. But Bailey Lin disagreed. She discovered in March that she was insulting Vos for contempt of court, but she determined that she had taken steps to wipe out the insult order on Thursday. The judge left the question of whether he would face penalties under the Public Records Act unresolved.
The proceedings are one of three open record proceedings filed by the liberal surveillance group American Overseas. All of them seek records related to the investigation of the 2020 elections led by Gableman.
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