During Milwaukee visit, Vance accuses Johnson of acting "odd" amid FBI investigation into 2020 election
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- During a stop in Milwaukee Wednesday that primarily focused on Medicaid fraud, Vice President J.D. Vance accused Mayor Cavalier Johnson of acting suspicious amid an FBI review of the 2020 election.
Ahead of Vance's visit, Johnson wrote the vice president a letter calling for the FBI investigation to end. The mayor also suggested Vance should come see the city's elections operation while he was in town.
"Federal law enforcement agents, deployed at the direction of the President’s administration, have been
present in my city, interviewing election officials," Johnson's letter read. "I know of no justification for this activity. Evidence of wrongdoing is entirely absent. And the investigation is intimidating honest public servants."
During Wednesday's stop at the 128th Air Refueling Wing, Vance was asked about the letter and confirmed he was aware of it. Vance said the mayor's comments about the election reminded him about an interaction he had with his son during a recent return home.
"My six-year-old greets me, and I love my little boy but he's a little mischievous," Vance said. "He gives me a big hug, he says, 'Daddy, I'm glad you're home. I didn't steal any of the cookies.' I said, 'Huh, that's interesting that you volunteered that when I wasn't even talking about that. Well, of course, he stole the cookies.
"So, when I hear a guy protesting, out of nowhere, 'I did not do any election fraud, I didn't do any election fraud,' it makes me wonder, why is that guy protesting so aggressively? It's a little odd."
Johnson's letter wasn't quite out of nowhere. For more than five years, President Donald Trump has claimed without evidence the 2020 election was stolen in Wisconsin. Mr. Trump has not made similar claims about the 2016 and 2024 elections, in which he carried the state.
Jeff Fleming, a spokesman for the mayor, said Johnson was aware of at least one elections worker who's been interviewed by FBI agents, and the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) has confirmed multiple officers were interviewed.
In response to Vance's answer, the mayor's office issued a new statement.
"Rather than addressing the real questions, the Vice President digresses into stories about his child," Johnson said. “So, I’ll ask again, what evidence is there of voter fraud in Milwaukee? Without any rational basis, why are FBI agents knocking on doors, intimidating current and former election officials? With no credible evidence of voter fraud, why is President Trump’s Administration undermining America’s faith in elections?"
Johnson added he would be traveling to Washington, D.C. in September and hoped to meet with Vance then.
Don Millis, chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC), told CBS 58 Wednesday he's gathered some information about the FBI interviews from second-hand conversations with municipal and county officials.
Millis said the FBI agents are based in either Milwaukee or Madison, and he added that on a scale from 1 to 10, he was at a 'two' with regard to concern the review would lead to attempts to seize records.
"They've been conducted by career staff," Millis said. "They've been very professional and they are nothing out of the ordinary."
Still, Millis added his biggest concern was the possibility of investigators seizing about 267,000 absentee ballots Milwaukee County still has from 2020.
Because state law requires clerks to put a matching number on absentee ballot envelopes and in poll books, Millis said it'd be easy for the feds to determine how individuals voted.
Under state law, counties can destroy ballots 22 months after an election. Milwaukee County has maintained its 2020 ballots, citing a 2023 lawsuit challenging how the election was administered.
"As long as those [ballots] out there, that's a tempting morsel for someone in DC to say, 'Hey, maybe we should do that as the next step,'" Millis said.
Millis has called for the county's corporation counsel, Scott Brown, to file a motion in the lawsuit seeking permission to destroy the ballots. Brown did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Millis, a Republican WEC appointee, has since gone even further, stating Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul should intervene in the case and request permission to destroy the ballots.
He noted court records for the case indicate neither the county nor the state have made any attempt to get the judge's approval for destroying the ballots.
"That's frustrating to me," Millis said.
When a CBS 58 reporter asked for Kaul's legal opinion on whether Milwaukee County could destroy the ballots, a Wisconsin Department of Justice spokesperson said, "We don’t have anything on this for you."