The FBI tried to interview one of the top elections officials in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, according to the county clerk’s office.
An FBI agent visited the home of county Elections Director Michelle Hawley and left her business card, County Clerk George Christenson said in a statement Wednesday.
“It is unfortunate that the FBI chose to visit the private residence of Milwaukee County’s Elections Director rather than contact the Election Commission’s office directly,” Christenson said. “No dedicated public servant should be subjected to that type of intrusion simply for carrying out her responsibilities with integrity and professionalism.”
Christenson said the county will follow up to determine the nature of the visit but added that “the 2020 Presidential Election was fair and transparent, and its results are accurate.”
“This has been proven repeatedly over the last six years by the post-election canvass, the Presidential Election Recount, State court-based challenge, Federal court-based challenge, the forensic audit by the Wisconsin’s Legislative Audit Bureau, and two additional independent audits,” he said. “Continuing to relitigate settled questions does not strengthen public confidence in elections but it undermines it.”
Joe Biden won Milwaukee County with 69.1% of the vote in the 2020 presidential election, while President Donald Trump earned only 29.3%.
Citing unnamed sources, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported this week that the FBI was beginning a probe into Wisconsin’s handling of the 2020 election and that it interviewed Robert Kehoe, deputy administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Christenson said Wednesday that while officials will “cooperate with all legitimate law enforcement actions, we will defend against any attack on our democracy and will defend the rights of voters of Milwaukee County.”
“Our responsibility as election officials is to safeguard the integrity of the process through facts, transparency, and adherence to the law, and the record clearly demonstrates that those standards were met in 2020,” he continued.
The FBI has also demanded election records from the 2020 presidential election in Arizona, Michigan and Georgia.
Agents first seized ballots in January after the FBI raided an elections hub in Fulton County, Georgia, which has been at the center of Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was “stolen.” A federal judge ruled this month that the FBI could keep the ballots it took.
The FBI also sought and obtained records relating to the 2020 election in Arizona in early March. Last month, the Justice Department demanded that a Michigan county hand over all ballots from the election. Democrats solidly won both the two targeted Arizona counties and the Michigan county in the 2020 election.
