A top Wisconsin lawmaker says former President Donald Trump called him within the past week in yet another bid to decertify President Joe Biden’s 2020 win in the state.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) told a local news outlet that this most recent conversation happened after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that cracked down on the use of ballot drop boxes.
“It’s very consistent,” Vos said told UPFRONT. “He makes his case, which I respect. He would like us to do something different in Wisconsin. I explained it’s not allowed under the Constitution. He has a different opinion, and then he put out the tweet. So that’s it.”
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says former President Trump called him last week in another push to decertify Wisconsin’s 2020 presidential results after the WI Supreme Court ruling on absentee ballot drop boxes. Shortly after, Vos says, Trump posted on social media calling him a RINO pic.twitter.com/rLFtYtHlh6
— Matt Smith (@mattsmith_news) July 19, 2022
Vos, who is facing a Republican primary in August, appeared to be referencing a post Trump made on his social media app, Truth Social, after the ruling.
“It’s now up to Robin Vos to do what everybody knows must be done. We need FAIR and HONEST Elections in our Country,” Trump wrote. “Speaker Robin Vos has a decision to make! Does Wisconsin RECLAIM the Electors, turn over the Election to the actual winner (by a lot!), or sit back and do nothing as our Country continues to go to HELL?”
Biden defeated Trump by nearly 21,000 votes in Wisconsin in 2020, a result that has been upheld by recounts and court rulings that have rejected assertions of widespread fraud. Trump’s continued insistence that the election was stolen, despite refutations by White House lawyers and other top officials, up until the Capitol riot has been a focus of the House Jan. 6 Committee, which is set to hold its final planned summer hearing in prime time on Thursday. The Justice Department is also conducting a widespread investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and is reportedly looking into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
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His call to Georgia’s secretary of state in January 2021, urging the election overseer to “find” votes sufficient to overturn Biden’s victory in that state, is now the subject of a criminal investigation in Fulton County.
Trump again took aim at Vos on Tuesday evening. “So what’s Speaker Robin Vos doing on the Great Wisconsin Supreme Court Ruling declaring hundreds of thousands of Drop Box votes to be illegal? This is not a time for him to hide, but a time to act! I don’t know his opponent in the upcoming Primary, but feel certain he will do well if Speaker Vos doesn’t move with gusto,” the former president said on Truth Social. “Robin, don’t let the voters of Wisconsin down!”
Vos did hire former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman to investigate the 2020 election, and Gableman has urged Wisconsin to decertify the 2020 election. However, Gableman’s investigation has long faced skepticism from Democrats, including Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, who has dismissed the inquiry as a circus. That inquiry is ongoing and is facing legal battles related to transparency. The Legislative Audit Bureau also conducted a review of the contest, and in October made dozens of recommendations for improving the voting process, but said it did not find evidence of widespread fraud.
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The Trump-linked lawyer who compiled memos outlining ways to overturn the 2020 election urged Wisconsin lawmakers in March to decertify the contest, it was reported in April. John Eastman, the lawyer, participated in a meeting at the Wisconsin Capitol last month and pressed Vos to start “reclaiming the electors” and move forward with “either a do-over or having a new slate of electors seated that would declare someone else the winner,” activist Jefferson Davis told ABC News. Vos, a Republican, walked out of that meeting unconvinced that overturning Biden’s victory was legally possible.
“I still believe that the Constitution and my oath that I took as an elected official does not allow me to decertify any election whether I want to or not,” Vos said at the time, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. “That’s not going to happen.”
