The U.S. Department of Justice has subpoenaed election officials in Dane and Milwaukee Counties asking for records of communication between their offices and former Republican President Donald Trump.
The requests from DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith come as he’s leading two ongoing investigations, including a probe into whether people unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election.
Smith’s office sent subpoenas to Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell and Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson seeking “any and all communications” involving Trump or his campaign from June 1, 2020 through Jan. 20, 2021.
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The subpoenas specify 19 people who worked with Trump, including Wisconsin attorney Jim Troupis, who oversaw the Trump campaign’s recounts in Dane and Milwaukee Counties.
In an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio, Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell said that he received the subpoena on Dec. 1 and planned to respond to it Tuesday. McDonnell said the only communications he had were with Troupis.
“That was my main point of contact during the recount,” McDonnell said. “So I do have some relating to that, but it was all related to the recount and has been public in the past.”
In addition to Troupis, the DOJ also requested communications with Kenneth Chesebro, a Boston attorney who would later file a last-ditch appeal with Troupis asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Wisconsin’s election results. Also on the list were former Trump advisor Rudy Giuliani and Republican attorney Sidney Powell, who filed lawsuits in several swing states including Wisconsin seeking to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in 2020.
During a press conference in Milwaukee Tuesday, Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson said he had also communicated with Troupis during the time in question.
“Aside from Mr. Troupis, I’d have to rely on our search to find that out,” Christenson said of the other names listed by the DOJ. “I can tell you I don’t recall getting anything from Rudy Giuliani or Sidney Powell. I think I would have recalled that.”
Troupis did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith to serve as special counsel on Nov. 18. In addition to his investigation of the transfer of power, Smith is also leading a probe into classified documents and other presidential records.
The requests sent to McDonell and Christenson cover the entire 2020 calendar year as well as the first weeks of 2021. That includes Jan. 6, 2021, the day Trump supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop Congress from certifying the results of the election.
Troupis’ work for Trump came to the forefront in November 2020. Acting on behalf of the Trump campaign, Troupis asked for Wisconsin’s partial recount on Nov. 18, 2020. That same day, Chesebro sent a memo to Troupis outlining the Trump campaign’s plan to use “alternate” electors to contest the election.
On Dec. 1, 2020, Troupis, on behalf of the Trump campaign, filed a lawsuit asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to overturn Biden’s victory, challenging a wide range of absentee voters, including more than 170,000 that were cast in-person before Election Day. The Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected the lawsuit by a 4-3 vote on Dec. 14, 2020. Justices handed down their ruling roughly an hour before Wisconsin’s lawful electors and the Republicans posing as electors met at the Capitol.
The U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection has separately subpoenaed the Republicans who posed as electors in Wisconsin, as well as in other states. The committee also interviewed Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, late last month. Trump repeatedly pressured Vos to try to overturn the results of the election in the Legislature.
The Associated Press reported that the DOJ had sent similar subpoenas to officials in Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania.
Editor’s note: WPR’s Evan Casey contributed reporting to this story.
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