Frederica Freyberg:

Now to news out of the Department of Justice. The Wisconsin attorney general issued a scathing report this week relating to his inquiry into leaked John Doe documents. AG Brad Schimel is not recommending criminal charges, but only, he says, because it’s not possible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt who leaked the documents. As investigative records that were part of the secret probe into Governor Scott Walker’s campaign were grossly mishandled by being kept in unlocked locations within the offices of the former Government Accountability Board. Schimel’s investigation also discovered a previously-unknown John Doe III, which investigated a wide range of GOP officials and staffers suspected of campaigning on state time. John Doe III didn’t result in any charges, but that probe’s warrants and subpoenas of Republicans included personal correspondence unrelated to any campaigns. Some of those subpoenaed materials were found in a file labeled “opposition research.” Schimel’s report says, “DOJ is deeply concerned by what appears to have been the weaponizing of GAB by partisans in furtherance of political goals.” The Department of Justice recommends disciplinary action against a former GAB attorney whose hard drive containing secret documents cannot be found. Justice also asked the judge overseeing the leak case to initiate contempt proceedings against that lawyer and several others, including the former GAB director and the John Doe special prosecutor Francis Schmitz. To that, Schmitz says, “… all I can say is that I was completely surprised to hear about this. I cooperated with officials from the DOJ at the outset of the investigation and had no further contact with them.”