Rep Wants Judiciary Committee To Look Into Election-Related Raid

Wisconsin’s far-left top prosecutor still isn’t commenting two days after The Federalist first reported the state Department of Justice led a raid on the office and home of Wausau Mayor Douglas Diny —  a law enforcement operation tied to Diny’s removal and relocation of an unsecured absentee ballot drop box outside city hall. 

Meanwhile, Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Republican who represents Wausau in northern Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District, said that he’d like the House Judiciary Committee to investigate Attorney General Josh Kaul’s politically driven probe. Tiffany, who serves on the committee, told Wisconsin conservative talk show host Vicki McKenna that Kaul’s actions reek of the kind of politically weaponized investigations and prosecutions Biden-Harris administration Attorney General Merrick Garland has delivered during his tenure. 

“I see Merrick Garland doing stuff like this out in Washington, D.C., whether it’s on Catholics or people in school board meetings, whatever the case may be,” said the congressman, referring to some of the U.S. Department of Justice’s many targets. “Now it appears Josh Kaul for Halloween wants to be the mini-Merrick Garland.” 

‘Actions of Jack-Booted Thugs’

On Friday, a source with knowledge of Wednesday’s raid told The Federalist that law enforcement officials seized cell phones and other electronic devices supposedly relevant to the Wausau investigation. That included Diny’s wife’s cell phone, said the source who asked not to be identified because of the developing nature of the case. 

An official in the attorney general’s office told The Federalist the state justice department could provide more information on the raid. The agency has not returned several requests for comment, including a follow-up email asking law enforcement officials why it was necessary to, as sources told The Federalist, serve a warrant and seize the mayor’s property in a dispute over Wisconsin’s controversial absentee ballot drop box law. 

Wausau radio station WSAU reported on Sunday that the state DOJ, “led by democrat Attorney General Josh Kaul, has not commented on the raid.” 

Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin’s senior senator, wrote on his X account in response to The Federalist’s story that Kaul’s investigation into Diny and the accompanying raid “are the actions of jack-booted thugs.” 

“Democrats are the danger to our democracy. Case closed,” Johnson said. 

‘Conducted Freely and Fairly’

The Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation earlier this month took over the investigation into Diny’s Sept. 22 removal of the drop box. The conservative mayor ticked off the left when photos showed him carting away the ballot receptacle, which Diny said was not secured where it had been placed outside city hall in advance of the opening of Wisconsin’s pre-Election Day voting. It has since been returned. 

As The Federalist reported, Wausau City Clerk Kaitlyn Bernarde had, according to reports, decided to bring back the drop box without approval from the Wausau City Council. After positioning it and bolting it down, Bernarde told The Washington Post she noticed the drop box was missing and notified Theresa Wetzsteon, Marathon County’s Democrat district attorney. Wetzsteon told the Post that she quickly opened up an investigation.  

In July, the liberal-led Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed a previous ruling by the court that had declared the widespread use of absentee ballot drop boxes illegal under state law. The new ruling left it up to municipalities to decide whether to use the receptacles. Many communities have opted not to employ them. 

“The Supreme Court interprets the law, does not make the law. That was my logic,” Diny said at a Wausau City Council meeting earlier this month. 

 Diny could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Joseph Bugni, has declined to comment on the matter. The mayor earlier this month attempted to persuade the city council to approve funding for drop box security. Council members refused to take up the measure. 

In an interview with News 9 WAOW in Wausau last week, Kaul said his agency is committed “to making sure that our elections are conducted freely and fairly and in compliance with the laws and we take any allegations of violations of our election laws seriously.” The attorney general told the news outlet that the DOJ will forward the findings of its investigation to the Marathon County district attorney’s office. 

As of Sunday, there were no charges or related documents filed on Wisconsin’s online courts database. Officials from the Marathon County Sheriff’s Department did not return The Federalist’s questions about the reported warrant served in the raid. 

‘Show Me the Man and I’ll Show You the Crime’

“There’s one man who can answer this right now, it’s Attorney General Josh Kaul,” Tiffany told McKenna on her show, which airs in Milwaukee and Madison. He said the DOJ probe, which followed outcry and legal action by leftist activist and lawfare groups, is, “Show me the man and I will show you the crime,” referring to the infamous line from Lavrentiy Beria, Joseph Stalin’s “most ruthless and longest-serving secret police chief.” As the Oxford Eagle notes, Beria “bragged that he could prove criminal conduct on anyone, even the innocent.” 

“And boy does this have a strong aroma from a decade ago when the John Doe wrecked the state of Wisconsin, and we are seeing the same thing once again,” Tiffany added. 

The dark John Doe investigations, led by highly partisan Democrat district attorneys in Milwaukee and Dane counties and the now-defunct Government Accountability Board, were declared unconstitutional by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2015. The ruling ending the abusive, secret probes — including pre-dawn, armed raids on the homes of Wisconsin conservatives — described them as a “perfect storm of wrongs.” 

Conservative activist Eric O’Keefe, targeted in the John Doe investigations aimed at then-Republican Gov. Scott Walker and his allies, said the unnecessary raid on the Wausau mayor’s home and the seizure of his possessions stirs up a lot of bad memories. 

“This should not be taken lightly. The idea that [the DOJ] need to take computers and phones before people have a chance to defend themselves, all for political speech, it’s really bad,” O’Keefe told The Federalist in a phone interview. 

Tiffany said the Republican-controlled state legislature has subpoena power to investigate the attorney general and his henchmen. 

“I think we on the Judiciary Committee, federally, we should should be looking into this,” the congressman said.  

Listen to the full interview with Rep. Tom Tiffany on the Vicki McKenna Show.

For more election news and updates, visit electionbriefing.com.

Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.