On Steve Bannon podcast, Michael Gableman appeals to Trump supporters for help keeping the doors open on his Wisconsin election review

MADISON - The former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice overseeing a taxpayer-funded review of the 2020 election for Assembly Republicans is warning supporters of former President Donald Trump that Speaker Robin Vos wants to dismantle his Brookfield office within three weeks.

Vos' staff members want to pick up his office equipment on April 26, Gableman told Trump's former White House adviser Steve Bannon in a Thursday appearance on Bannon's podcast that was aimed at applying pressure on Vos to change course and continue paying Gableman $11,000 per month to continue the review.

"Prior to the release of my report on March 1, Speaker Vos went on the radio and he told everyone within listening distance within a couple of states' area reach that March 1 would mark just the beginning of the Gableman investigation ... and now I'm getting calls from Speaker Vos' office asking — telling us that they're going to pick up our office equipment on April 26."

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Gableman told the listeners and viewers of Bannon's podcast, of which there are 731,000 on Rumble alone, to call and email Vos to ask him to keep the review alive.

"There must be more investigation," Gableman said.

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Aides to Vos did not say whether April 26 marks the end of Gableman's review, which has a taxpayer-funded budget of $676,000 and has lasted 10 months. In a statement, Vos said the review "will now turn its focus to resolving the lawsuits that have been brought against our efforts by liberal activists."

"We hope to have Justice Gableman help us do that so we can once again focus on reforming the election process," Vos said in a statement.

Gableman's plea for help was made just two days after Gableman traveled to Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to attend a screening of a film produced by Citizens United that alleges the 2020 election was "rigged" by donations Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan gave to local government officials to help administer elections during the coronavirus pandemic.

Like Trump, Gableman has promoted the impossible and illegal idea that Wisconsin lawmakers could decertify the 2020 election result more than a year later and has received national praise among Republicans who believe Joe Biden did not win legitimately.

Gableman did not immediately have a reaction to Vos' Friday comments.

Vos agreed in March to have taxpayers cover Gableman's legal bills beyond April as court fights over his review continue. A hearing in one of those cases is set for July 11.

Feeling pressure from Trump, Vos last summer named Gableman as special counsel with a charge to look into the last presidential election. Vos and Gableman reached a new contract in March allowing Gableman to continue his work through April, with the possibility of extending the agreement.

Vos approved the review even though recounts and courts had confirmed Biden beat Trump by nearly 21,000 votes. A legislative audit and study by a conservative group found no signs of significant voter fraud.

Gableman issued a report earlier this year that he argued showed major deficiencies with how the election was conducted, but it also revealed little that was new and reiterated arguments already made by others.

Gableman features prominently in a new film by the conservative group Citizens United focused on $350 million Zuckerberg and his wife distributed in the form of grants to local election officials in 2020. Courts have found the grants were legal, but Gableman and other Republicans have argued they unfairly helped Democrats.

The 41-minute film “Rigged” premiered Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago, where Trump told the crowd Gableman’s work had been “unbelievable.”

“Somewhere along the line, the evidence is showing that there may very well have been a bait and switch,” Gableman says of the grants in the film. “That the bait was to keep citizens safe from COVID, but then it switched -- it may very well have switched -- to a partisan get-out-the-vote effort on behalf of Joe Biden for the purpose of defeating Donald Trump.”

The film also includes an interview with state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, a Menomonee Falls Republican who leads the Assembly Elections Committee.

Vos' emails made public

Vos on Friday sought to prevent the dissemination of 20,000 pages of deleted emails he gave to the liberal group American Oversight on Wednesday as part of an open records lawsuit.

An attorney for Vos told a Dane County judge on Friday that the emails "may or may not" be subject to the open records law and for now at least should not be made available to the general public.

Vos attorney Ronald Stadler filed the motion around the time American Oversight released 150 pages of the deleted emails it had received from Vos.

Those emails show Michael Best & Friedrich attorney Tom Schreibel set up a conference call on "election integrity" in August between Vos’ office and Justin Riemer, the Republican National Committee’s chief counsel.

Victoria Toensing, an associate of former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, in June contacted Vos to discuss making changes to Wisconsin’s election laws. There's no indication that Vos responded.

In an October email, conservative Vos critic Harry Wait told the speaker he considers him a "ripe target for a recall."

American Oversight said it is continuing to review the emails and would fight Vos' efforts to keep them from the public.

Many of them are from years ago and have nothing to do with Gableman's work. Vos' attorney this week described many of them as mundane.

Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

Contact Molly Beck at molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Gableman appeals to Trump backers for Wisconsin election review help