Perhaps no state House speaker in the nation has generated more national headlines than Robin Vos, the Republican head of the Wisconsin Assembly. It was Vos, for example, who recently fired Michael Gableman — the same former state Supreme Court justice whom Vos had hired 14 months earlier — after Gableman’s ridiculous “audit” of the 2020 election proved too bonkers to defend.
The same week, the Assembly speaker faced a Republican primary challenge that also generated national attention when Donald Trump threw his support behind Vos’ far-right challenger. The incumbent prevailed — but not by much.
A few weeks earlier, Vos acknowledged that he’d received a phone call from the former Republican president, urging him to help undo the results of the 2020 election. As it turns out, it wasn’t just news organizations who took an interest in that chat. NBC News reported this morning:
The Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed Robin Vos, the Republican speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly who was targeted by former President Donald Trump, last weekend for testimony about a phone call he received from the former president in July. The panel is seeking Vos’ testimony by Monday, but the Wisconsin lawmaker is suing to block the subpoena.
In terms of the timing, a Politico report added that while the committee’s subpoena is still live, “the panel canceled Monday’s deposition deadline after conferring with Vos’ attorneys and obtaining copies of the Wisconsin speaker’s legal filings.”
While those details get worked out, what’s of particular interest is why, exactly, congressional investigators would be eager to have a chat with the Wisconsin legislator.
Let’s revisit our earlier coverage to review how we arrived at this point. The Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a deeply disappointing ruling in July, dramatically curtailing the use of ballot drop boxes, despite the total absence of problems with Badger State voters using the boxes.
This, evidently, gave Trump a ridiculous idea: Shortly after the ruling was issued, the former president argued that if drop boxes can’t be used in future elections, then they shouldn’t have been used in past elections. And if they shouldn’t have been used in 2020, the Republican surmised, then many Wisconsin ballots from the last election cycle should now be deemed invalid.
Around the same time, Trump called Vos, pressing him to decertify the results of the 2020 race, which is still legally impossible. When the Assembly speaker explained as much, the former president threw a series of tantrums.
“Looks like Speaker Robin Vos, a long time professional RINO always looking to guard his flank, will be doing nothing about the amazing Wisconsin Supreme Court decision,” Trump wrote by way of his social media platform. “The Democrats would like to sincerely thank Robin, and all of his fellow RINOs, for letting them get away with ‘murder.’”
It’s not altogether clear just how many times the former president lobbied Vos on the matter — the legislator has suggested there were multiple phone calls — but the Jan. 6 committee appears eager to learn more. “The circumstances and details regarding your interactions with former President Trump related to the 2020 election are relevant to the select committee’s investigation and proposed recommendations,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chair of the bipartisan panel, wrote. Vos does not appear eager to cooperate, at least not on the timeline the committee has in mind. As for the Wisconsin Republican who’s been publicly derided and condemned by Trump, Vos told The Washington Post in late August, “I think Donald Trump has done a lot of good things for our country, and if he runs again, he could do a lot more.” Remember, the former president not only endorsed Vos’ primary challenger — who very nearly won — Trump also accused Vos of covering up corruption. But the Assembly speaker is still offering public support for his accuser, because that’s how Republican politics works in 2022.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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