July 21, 2022
Wisconsin’s Republican house speaker said on Tuesday, July 19, that former president Donald Trump called him “within the last week”—seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election, reports The Washington Post.
Wisconsin State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told WISN in Milwaukee that he received a call from Trump after the state Supreme Court ruled on July 8 that most absentee ballot drop boxes in Wisconsin are illegal. The ruling addresses future elections—not the one Trump lost in 2020 by more than 20,000 votes.
“It’s very consistent. He makes his case, which I respect,” Vos said to WISN. “He would like us to do something different in Wisconsin. I explained that it’s not allowed under the Constitution. He has a different opinion.”
Vos said Trump then posted about him on social media. In a July 13 post on Truth Social, Trump’s social media platform, the former president repeated his baseless claims of election fraud and falsely accused the speaker of letting Democrats “get away with ‘murder.’”
“What a waste of a brilliant and courageous decision by Wisconsin’s Highest Court,” Trump wrote.
“This is not a time for him to hide, but a time to act!” Trump wrote. “I don’t know his opponent in the upcoming Primary, but feel certain he will do well if Speaker Vos doesn’t move with gusto. Robin, don’t let the voters of Wisconsin down!”
Over the last year, Vos has said he talks to Trump regularly even though they do not see eye to eye on how to deal with the 2020 election. Vos did not immediately respond to a request for an interview Wednesday morning.
Steen said he has not talked to Trump but that the former president’s comments are lending fuel to his primary campaign. He criticized Vos for not advancing the resolution that seeks to undo the 2020 results.
“If you really want the people to know that their vote counts, you want to find the answer so what he is doing to me is spitting in the face of men and women who have given their life to this country,” he said.
In his WISN interview, Vos downplayed Trump’s latest push to try to change the results in Wisconsin. “I think we all know Donald Trump is Donald Trump,” Vos said. “There’s very little we can do to control or predict what he will do.”
Research contact: @washingtonpost
