MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Assembly Republican leader who hired a former state Supreme Court justice to investigate the 2020 election fired him Friday, after the former justice and former President Donald Trump backed the lawmaker’s opponent.
Speaker Robin Vos firing of Michael Gableman ends a 14-month probe that began with Vos voicing full confidence in Gableman’s abilities.
Vos had rejected Gableman's determination that lawmakers should consider decertifying the 2020 election, as Trump wants. Vos cited widespread legal opinions that it would be both unconstitutional and impossible to do.
Gableman then backed Vos opponent in Tuesday's primary. After Vos won, he said the former justice was an “embarrassment” to himself and the state.
Gableman, who has repeatedly falsely claimed that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Trump, has said that Vos “never wanted a real investigation.”
Trump lost Wisconsin by nearly 21,000 votes in 2020 and Vos has urged Republicans to move on.
Vos, in a statement first provided to The Associated Press on Friday, said Gableman’s reports “clearly showed concerns and problems with the 2020 election.”
In a statement posted to Twitteron Friday, Vos said in part, "For those like me who remain concerned about ensuring we have election integrity, we have a simple solution; to focus on our efforts to elect a Republican governor in November so we can pass the bills that were vetoed by Governor Evers."
My statement on closing of the Office of Special Counsel pic.twitter.com/qsgH0Regov
— Speaker Robin Vos (@SpeakerVos) August 12, 2022