A special investigator reviewing Wisconsin’s 2020 election results released his 136-page interim report Tuesday morning.Michael Gableman oversaw the Republican-backed review.Read the full reportHis report was released by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and State Rep. Janel Brandtjen.Gableman concluded the GOP-controlled Legislature could decertify President Joe Biden’s electoral victory in Wisconsin and choose to change the results of the popular vote.”I believe the Legislature should take a very hard look at the option of decertification of the 2020 Wisconsin presidential election,” Gableman told a committee gathering.He also said decertifying the election results wouldn’t change who the president of the United States is.But the legislature’s attorneys and Vos have said it’s impossible to decertify now.Biden won Wisconsin by a little less than 21,000 votes.Gableman recommended dismantling the Wisconsin Elections Commission.He suggested Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s Center for Tech and Civic Life’s $8.8 million grant to the cities of Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Kenosha and Green Bay constituted election bribery.There were 196 Wisconsin municipalities that received grant money.Three courts in the past year, along with the Wisconsin Elections Commission, have rejected claims that the grants were illegal. Gableman spoke before the Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections.He suggested his investigation was not over.The Republican investigation into the Wisconsin election results has cost taxpayers about $676,000.Vos said he was regularly keeping former President Donald Trump updated on the investigation’s progress. Trump released a statement before Gableman spoke urging his supporters to watch the committee meeting.”This circus has long surpassed being a mere embarrassment for our state. From the beginning, it has never been a serious or functioning effort, it has lacked public accountability and transparency, and it has been a colossal waste of taxpayer dollars,” Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement. “This effort has spread disinformation about our election processes, it has attacked the integrity of our clerks, election administrators, and poll workers, and it has emboldened individuals to harass and demean dedicated public servants.”The report was met with bipartisan criticism. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul called Gableman’s report shameful and deeply embarrassing.”This report is a full-throated attack on our democracy and a truly shocking example of the authoritarian mindset at work,” he said in a statement. “The report provides a roadmap for attempting to overturn the will of the voters based on a fringe legal theory. It includes recommendations that would restrict access to voting and make it harder to detect fraud. And it disparages due process and public records requests because they are inconvenient to certain individuals with power.”Republican Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke immediately rejected the call to decertify the election, saying it was a “fool’s errand.””Still not legal under Wisconsin law,” Steineke tweeted. “Beyond that, it would have no practical impact b/c there is no Constitutional way to remove a sitting president other than through impeachment or incapacity. Fools errand. Focus on the future.” Ann Jacobs, the Democratic chair of the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission, tweeted that Gableman was promoting a “crazy conspiracy theory.” She tweeted that decertification was “IMPOSSIBLE. NOT LEGAL.”Biden’s Wisconsin victory has withstood recounts, multiple state and federal lawsuits, an audit by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau and a report by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.”I had no other goal in mind to find the truth,” Gableman said. “And while we don’t have it entirely yet, we’re getting there.”Vos hired Gableman to conduct the review in June.Gableman, the former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice, headquartered his review from an office in Brookfield and largely kept the nature and scope of his probe private.Most recently, he has asked a Waukesha County judge to jail several mayors and elections officials for refusing to comply with his subpoena and testify in private.”I certainly don’t want to go to jail,” Racine Mayor Cory Mason said Sunday on UPFRONT. “But if it’s something that I would have to do to defend democracy and stand up for the clerks and all the poll workers who did all that hard work, it’s something I would do.”Several lawsuits are still pending on the question of if elected officials should be compelled to testify as part of Gableman’s investigation.Because those lawsuits have not been decided, Gableman said his review cannot be considered complete.The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A special investigator reviewing Wisconsin’s 2020 election results released his 136-page interim report Tuesday morning.
Michael Gableman oversaw the Republican-backed review.
His report was released by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and State Rep. Janel Brandtjen.
Gableman concluded the GOP-controlled Legislature could decertify President Joe Biden’s electoral victory in Wisconsin and choose to change the results of the popular vote.
“I believe the Legislature should take a very hard look at the option of decertification of the 2020 Wisconsin presidential election,” Gableman told a committee gathering.
He also said decertifying the election results wouldn’t change who the president of the United States is.
But the legislature’s attorneys and Vos have said it’s impossible to decertify now.
Biden won Wisconsin by a little less than 21,000 votes.
Gableman recommended dismantling the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
He suggested Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s Center for Tech and Civic Life’s $8.8 million grant to the cities of Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Kenosha and Green Bay constituted election bribery.
There were 196 Wisconsin municipalities that received grant money.
Three courts in the past year, along with the Wisconsin Elections Commission, have rejected claims that the grants were illegal.
Gableman spoke before the Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections.
He suggested his investigation was not over.
The Republican investigation into the Wisconsin election results has cost taxpayers about $676,000.
Vos said he was regularly keeping former President Donald Trump updated on the investigation’s progress.
Trump released a statement before Gableman spoke urging his supporters to watch the committee meeting.
“This circus has long surpassed being a mere embarrassment for our state. From the beginning, it has never been a serious or functioning effort, it has lacked public accountability and transparency, and it has been a colossal waste of taxpayer dollars,” Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement. “This effort has spread disinformation about our election processes, it has attacked the integrity of our clerks, election administrators, and poll workers, and it has emboldened individuals to harass and demean dedicated public servants.”
The report was met with bipartisan criticism.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul called Gableman’s report shameful and deeply embarrassing.
“This report is a full-throated attack on our democracy and a truly shocking example of the authoritarian mindset at work,” he said in a statement. “The report provides a roadmap for attempting to overturn the will of the voters based on a fringe legal theory. It includes recommendations that would restrict access to voting and make it harder to detect fraud. And it disparages due process and public records requests because they are inconvenient to certain individuals with power.”
Republican Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke immediately rejected the call to decertify the election, saying it was a “fool’s errand.”
“Still not legal under Wisconsin law,” Steineke tweeted. “Beyond that, it would have no practical impact b/c there is no Constitutional way to remove a sitting president other than through impeachment or incapacity. Fools errand. Focus on the future.”
Ann Jacobs, the Democratic chair of the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission, tweeted that Gableman was promoting a “crazy conspiracy theory.”
She tweeted that decertification was “IMPOSSIBLE. NOT LEGAL.”
Biden’s Wisconsin victory has withstood recounts, multiple state and federal lawsuits, an audit by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau and a report by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.
“I had no other goal in mind to find the truth,” Gableman said. “And while we don’t have it entirely yet, we’re getting there.”
Vos hired Gableman to conduct the review in June.
Gableman, the former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice, headquartered his review from an office in Brookfield and largely kept the nature and scope of his probe private.
Most recently, he has asked a Waukesha County judge to jail several mayors and elections officials for refusing to comply with his subpoena and testify in private.
“I certainly don’t want to go to jail,” Racine Mayor Cory Mason said Sunday on UPFRONT. “But if it’s something that I would have to do to defend democracy and stand up for the clerks and all the poll workers who did all that hard work, it’s something I would do.”
Several lawsuits are still pending on the question of if elected officials should be compelled to testify as part of Gableman’s investigation.
Because those lawsuits have not been decided, Gableman said his review cannot be considered complete.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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