Why “Missourians Can’t Trust Hawley”

Josh Hawley promised Missourians he’d clean up corruption in Jefferson City, but there’s mounting evidence he’s done anything but as he faces several ethics complaints and criticism for a sham investigation into the governor’s use of an encrypted texting app. Hawley – who took nearly $50,000 from the governor during his 2016 run for attorney general – is earning well-deserved scrutiny for mishandling the case, leading the Kansas City Star to conclude: “Missourians can’t trust Hawley.”

From Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Spokesman David Bergstein: “What’s worse than Josh Hawley not doing his job? Protecting a donor who is already under indictment. The governor’s use of a secret texting app demands more scrutiny than Hawley cared to provide and Missourians are right to wonder if Hawley gave the governor – who donated nearly $50,000 – a break he does not deserve.”

Kansas City Star: Missourians can’t trust Hawley investigation into Greitens’ use of text-destroying app
By Editorial Board
Key Points:

• It’s increasingly clear the investigation into Gov. Eric Greitens’ use of a secret phone texting application was substandard, and therefore a disservice to all Missourians. The investigation — conducted by the office of Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley — found no evidence that Greitens and his staff violated the state’s Sunshine Law by using the app, called Confide.
• The attorney general’s office had to rely on the statements of the governor’s aides during the investigation. That reliance alone gives Missourians reason enough to distrust the findings in the case.
• But there’s more: In recent days, additional disturbing details have emerged about the way the office approached the investigation. Those details further discount its conclusions. It turns out, for example, that the attorney general’s office never interviewed Greitens.
• There are other reasons to distrust the outcome of the attorney general’s Confide investigation. The Springfield News-Leader reported last week that a lawyer connected to Greitens’ criminal case sat in on the interviews with the governor’s staff. That’s highly unusual, and clearly contaminates the final results.

Read the full article here.

Kansas City Star: Hawley’s office defends probe of Greitens’ use of secret texting app
By Jason Hancock
Key Points:

• Attorney General Josh Hawley launched an investigation shortly after The Star’s report. It concluded last month with a report determining that there was no evidence of wrongdoing, in part because investigators could not find evidence.
• They did not interview four other staff members who had Confide accounts associated with their personal cell phones… They also didn’t interview Greitens.
• The attorney general’s report said the governor’s office asserted executive privilege. Moore said Friday that executive privilege was never formally asserted for the governor, but it was indicated it would be asserted if they requested an interview. Staff were also never directly asked if they communicated with the governor on Confide.

Read the full article here.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Democrats called his Greitens probe a ‘sham.’ Now, the investigator is defending himself.
By Jack Suntrup
Key Points:

• Critics have also panned Hawley’s office allowing staff members to assert “executive privilege” in order to not answer questions about their communications with Greitens while using Confide.

Read the full article here.

Springfield News-Leader: Hawley’s office didn’t challenge Greitens’ executive privilege claim, fearing backfire
By Will Schmitt
Key Points:

• Attorney General Josh Hawley’s office didn’t push to speak with Gov. Eric Greitens while investigating how the governor and his staff office used Confide, a texting application that sends self-destructing messages.
• Some on the governor’s staff admitted to using the app to send self-destructing messages, but Hawley’s office concluded this did not amount to breaking the state’s open-records law because these texts were considered “transitory” and were not required to be preserved. It remains unclear which of Greitens’ staffers used Confide to discuss logistics and scheduling, as Hawley’s report said.

Read the full article here.

Kansas City Star: Ethics complaint filed against Hawley
By Lindsay Wise and Jason Hancock
Key Points:

• A St. Louis attorney has filed an ethics complaint against Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley for not disclosing free legal representation from a well-connected Washington D.C. law firm in his state campaign finance reports or personal financial disclosures.
• Either Hawley is liable for not listing the free legal work as an in-kind contribution to his attorney general campaign, or the ‘pro bono’ services should have been disclosed as a gift on his personal financial disclosure, Dueker said.
• Hawley’s attorney general campaign paid another firm for campaign-related legal expenses, and disclosed those fees as required with the Missouri Ethics Commission. But that campaign did not disclose the Cooper & Kirk legal work as an expense in 2016, nor is the firm’s work on Hawley’s behalf recorded as an in-kind donation or personal gift.
• “It has to be disclosed one way or another,” Dueker said. “You don’t get to take large sums of money or valuable things as a candidate and not disclose it. You don’t get to take big in-kind freebies from out of state interests and not disclose them.”

Read the full article here.