'Treasonous traitor' who caved to Trump on Wisconsin audit faces his Republican critics

Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) caved to public pressure from Donald Trump and his supporters and extended the state's controversial audit of the 2020 election, but the man tasked with the review shared the stage with some of the speaker's biggest critics on Saturday.

"Michael Gableman got a reprieve a few days ago, when Assembly Speaker Robin Vos announced the former state Supreme Court justice could continue his taxpayer-funded review of the 2020 election that was supposed to end in April. On Saturday, Gableman responded by appearing on a stage with some of the Republican speaker’s most vocal critics on the right, including Vos’ primary opponent," Patrick Marley reported for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Gableman spoke at the rally on the state Capitol steps immediately after Vos’ opponent, Adam Steen, called the speaker a "treasonous traitor."

"The event featured a who’s who of Vos’ conservative critics who have maintained he has not done enough to review Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in Wisconsin. (Vos' many critics on the left say just the opposite — that he has spent too much time and money on studying an election that recounts and courts have found was properly conducted)," the newspaper explained. "Also speaking were Rep. Tim Ramthun, a Campbellsport Republican running for governor who has squabbled with Vos; Jefferson Davis, a former Menomonee Falls village president and frequent Vos critic; and Rep. Janel Brandtjen, the Menomonee Falls Republican who leads the Assembly Elections Committee."

Gableman was hired by Vos and given a budget of $676,000.

The contract was set to expire at the end of April, but Vos extended it after a thinly-veiled public threat from Trump. Gableman had also appeared on Steve Bannon's podcast, where he urged people to contract Vos and demand he extend the contract.