The Wisconsin attorney general has announced that the state Department of Justice is reviewing the voter fraud claims showcased in Project Veritas undercover videos.
The Wisconsin DOJ is run by Attorney General Brad Schimel, a Republican. He told WKOW-TV: “A recent video posted by conservative group Project Veritas shows concerning comments that will require a lengthy investigation.” Fox 6 Milwaukee reports that Schimel called the activities on the undercover videos “apparent violations of the law.”
He added, according to the Wisconsin TV station WKOW, “I’ve got strong instincts that say if you see a bad guy, go after a bad guy. Those videos appear to have someone bragging about breaking Wisconsin laws and some federal laws. So, my instincts are to take a look at it, and we will do that.”
Right Wisconsin, a conservative site affiliated with talk radio, wrote: “Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel is looking into whether a Democratic activist featured in a project Veritas video may have broken state laws.”
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel softened the news slightly, saying that Schimel “is raising the possibility” that DOJ might investigate the video. The Journal Sentinel, the state’s largest newspaper, called on Schimel to investigate, saying that, in the video, “Foval and an interviewer clearly discuss ‘voter fraud’ but it’s not clear whether they are discussing something that has actually happened or an idea that, in theory, could be carried out.”
Project Veritas and its founder James O’Keefe released two dramatic undercover videos – one that appears to show Democratic operatives talking about a voter fraud scheme and the other in which the operatives discuss inciting violence at Donald Trump rallies. O’Keefe has been criticized for sometimes editing his videos in a misleading manner. Trump mentioned the video stings in the third presidential debate, and their release has coincided with the Republican nominee stepping up claims of election rigging. NBC reports that Trump’s Foundation has helped fund O’Keefe’s efforts.
In Wisconsin, there is a link to one of the Project Veritas videos – the alleged voter fraud one – because one of the Democratic operatives was working in Wisconsin recently. According to WKOW, the videos “feature Scott Foval, a well-known democratic operative in Madison (Wisconsin) political circles,” and “appear to show Foval taking credit for disrupting a Scott Walker presidential rally, and also talking about how to commit voter fraud.”
Scott Walker speaks at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. (Getty)
Foval said in a statement that he engaged only in legal and above board activities. He told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he was being framed. Fox 6 says Foval has lost his job as a result of the video.
Although Foval has deleted his Twitter page, a cached tweet appears to show him criticizing Schimel in April.
There have been other high-profile claims of possible voter fraud recently in other states; in Indiana, thousands of voter registrations were altered, and officials are investigating to see whether voter fraud was involved.
Walker is the Republican governor of Wisconsin who briefly ran for president.