Wisconsin taxpayers on the hook for more fees related to 'audit' of Trump's election loss

A judge awarded about $163,000 in legal fees to attorneys for a liberal watchdog group as part of a lawsuit against a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice hired by Republican Assembly speaker Robin Vos to investigate the 2020 election.

Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington's order was the second issued in the past week against Vos and former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice Michael Gableman, bringing the total cost of the investigation to $1 million to be paid by taxpayers, reported Madison.com.

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Another judge awarded just over $98,000 to American Oversight watchdog group last week in a separate open-records case, and Remington awarded the additional legal fees after finding that Gableman violated the state's public records law by failing to adequately respond to requests for documents related to the review.

Vos hired Gableman, who was paid $676,000, to "audit" the election under pressure from Donald Trump, who won the state in 2016 but lost in 2020, and the former Supreme Court justice testified that he routinely deleted records that he thought were not part of the investigation.