DOJ Subpoenas Dane, Milwaukee County Clerks For Trump Election Documents

By Henry Redman, Wisconsin Examiner

December 8, 2022

The U.S. Department of Justice has subpoenaed the county clerks of Dane and Milwaukee counties seeking records of communications between their offices and former President Donald Trump.

The subpoenas from DOJ special counsel Jack Smith come as he leads two separate investigations into Trump’s actions as he attempted to overturn the results of 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, his campaign or his employees between June 1, 2020 and January 20, 2021. The subpoenas mention 19 people who worked with Trump as he attempted to interfere with the transfer of power following his election defeat. The list includes Wisconsin-based attorney Jim Troupis, who oversaw the Trump campaign’s request for recounts in Dane and Milwaukee counties, and attorney Cleta Mitchell, who previously worked for Milwaukee-based law firm Foley and Lardner.

As he was coordinating the recounts, Troupis led a Trump campaign lawsuit before the Wisconsin Supreme Court that sought to overturn the election results by tossing out thousands of absentee ballots cast in Dane and Milwaukee counties. Troupis was also involved in a plan, coordinated by Trump attorneys and the Republican Party of Wisconsin, to cast an alternate slate of electors for Trump even though Joe Biden had won the state’s Electoral College votes.

Mitchell gained attention following the election after it was revealed she was present on a phone call in which Trump pressured the Georgia secretary of state to “find” enough votes to change the state’s result. Mitchell left Foley and Lardner after her role was reported but she remains on the board of the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation.

Smith was appointed as special counsel on Nov. 18 by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee the tandem investigations into Trump’s attempts to overturn the election results and his treatment of classified documents and records after leaving office. Nearly identical subpoenas were also sent to election officials in Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

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