Gov. Tony Evers criticized Republicans for going ahead with inquiries into the 2020 presidential election, noting that “things changed” when Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, visited former President Donald Trump last week.
“Apparently they’re all drinking the Kool-Aid,” Evers said during a press conference on Dems’ “Build Back Better” plan. “It’s a lot of money. And it’s a lot of wasted money.”
The Assembly Org Committee on Monday approved 5-3 along party lines a motion to give Speaker Robin Vos the power to put former Justice Michael Gableman in charge of an Office of Special Counsel overseeing a 2020 election probe.
The Rochester Republican had earlier signed a contract with Gableman in June paying him $44,000 over a four-month period. He has since expanded the scope of Gableman’s work and said he’s setting a cap of $680,000 in taxpayer money.
Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, slammed the expanded contract.
Former state and national GOP Chair Reince Priebus went on Steve Bannon’s show last week and announced lawmakers had approved $680,000 for the review, that outside money would also be used to cover the costs of the probe and that subpoenas would go out within a couple of weeks. Vos later said no private money would be used for the investigation.
Hintz questioned how Priebus was privy to details of the work before it was publicly announced and whether it was a sign the probe is nothing more than a charade to placate Trump and his supporters.
“History will judge this time and this leadership as a total disgrace to this time and to our democracy,” Hintz said.
A Vos spokeswoman didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
