(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s attorney general doesn’t seem to be looking to cooperate with two investigations, one that involves his office directly.
Attorney General Josh Kaul told the hosts of UpFront that he will not cooperate with the
Trump Administration’s investigation into Wisconsin’s voter rolls.
“What the federal government is doing here is preposterous,” Kaul said. “This is again a conspiracy theory that the Trump administration is chasing.”
The Justice Department has asked all states for unredacted voter lists, including names, addresses and Social Security numbers.
The White House says they are trying to make sure that illegal immigrants aren’t voting.
Wisconsin’s Elections Commission has told the Justice Department that state law bans them from sharing unredacted voter lists. That law specifically outlaws sharing things like Social Security numbers.
Kaul, however, said the idea that illegals are voting in Wisconsin is far- fetched.
“We have had reviews of our elections in Wisconsin over and over and over again, and what they consistently show is that our elections are free and fair,” Kaul added. “The Trump administration can go online and purchase information about voters in Wisconsin just like anybody else can, but what they’re asking for is personally identifying information.”
Kaul said the Justice Department is likely going to have to settle that investigation in court.
Kaul is a little less certain about the Wisconsin Senate’s new oversight committee that is investigating his special environmental prosecutors. He did not say he will not work with Republicans in the Senate, but he didn’t sound enthusiastic to cooperate.
“We are going to review the document request that we received,” Kaul said. “And we are going to make an appropriate response based on what’s in there. Here’s what I can say, though. We are happy to talk about the work that we do at the Wisconsin Department of Justice to protect clean air and clean water.”
Republicans in the State Senate want to see communications between Kaul and the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center at New York University. That center is funded by Michael Bloomberg, and lawmakers say they’re worried Kaul is using outside money from outside groups to drive environmental prosecutions in Wisconsin.
