On Wednesday, Republican Speaker of the Wisconsin House of Representatives Robin Vos called for a “cyber-forensic audit” of the 2020 general election in the state.
Previously, Vos and state Republicans had tasked former State Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman with investigating possible improprieties that may have occurred in the November 2020 election. Despite leading in the state’s vote count until well into the early hours of November 4, former president Donald Trump ended up losing the state to Democrat Joe Biden by less than 21,000 votes.
But today, Vos and other state Republicans issued a statement that read:
Assembly Republicans have been working with Justice Gableman to conduct a swift, complete and thorough investigation. Part of our discussion has been focused on hiring independent contractors to enhance our efforts. We believe a cyber-forensic audit is necessary to ensure issues did not happen in 2020. We have allocated additional resources to Justice Gableman to ensure this investigation gets to the truth.
According to Reince Priebus, the former head of the Wisconsin and national Republican Party, and a former chief of staff to President Trump, the price tag for such an audit could be at least $690,000.
Previously, Vos had disparaged attempts to conduct such an audit, instead relying on Gableman and his team to pore over ballots in an attempt to ascertain the veracity of the 2020 vote count in the state. The new statement signals a new and more intensive search for the truth of the 2020 election with professional cyber analysts being called in to research voting machines.
Earlier this month, State Representative Janel Brandtjen, a Republican who heads the state’s Assembly Election Committee, issued subpoenas to seize ballots and voting machines from both Milwaukee and Brown County. However, the subpoenas don’t become valid unless signed by Vos and Assembly Chief Clerk Ted Blazel.
In an August 12 statement, former President Trump hailed Brandtjen’s efforts: “Hopefully Republican Speaker Robin Vos has the integrity and strength Wisconsin needs to support Rep. Brandtjen’s efforts.”
Just after issuing the subpoenas, Brandtjen, along with former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, spoke to thousands at an Audit the Vote rally at the Capitol. During the rally, Vos faced pressure from the Right to do a more thorough investigation of the 2020 vote.
“You deserve to know the truth, and it has been a long process,” Brandtjen told the crowd. “It is my job as a representative to do oversight.… We are going to fulfill that obligation.”
Sheriff Clarke was more blunt: “It is time for this GOP-controlled Legislature to stand up, to exercise their duty under the constitution and not let some other branch trample all over it,” Clarke told the crowd. The former Milwaukee County Sheriff also led the crowd in chanting, “Vos has gotta go!”
Vos is also facing pressure from the Left, who claim that the current audit is unnecessary and a waste of state funds. Left-wing newspaper The Capitol Times referred to Vos as “the spineless jellyfish of Wisconsin politics” in a recent op-ed.
Trump has repeatedly bashed Vos and other Wisconsin Republicans for not doing enough when it comes to investigating the results of the 2020 general election. Trump has been pushing for an audit like the one being performed in Maricopa County in Arizona.
“Don’t fall for their lies! These REPUBLICAN ‘leaders’ need to step up and support the people who elected them by providing them a full forensic investigation. If they don’t, I have little doubt that they will be primaried and quickly run out of office,” Trump said in a June statement.
But last week, Vos spent time with Trump, traveling with the former president on a private plane to an Alabama rally. Vos detailed the meeting in a tweet.
Former President Trump can, apparently, be quite convincing as the announcement of the cyber-forensic audit came just after Vos returned to Wisconsin.
In recent weeks, Gableman, who remains in charge of the investigation, has visited Arizona to learn about the Maricopa County process and also attended Mike Lindell’s recent cyber symposium in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
