Josh Hawley Releases Email Revealing Missouri Staffer ‘Manipulating’ State Audit

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) released an email Wednesday from the state auditor’s office that revealed the office had discussed whether it should change the audit’s conclusion to make it more critical of the Missouri conservative.

Hawley also released a letter from his personal lawyer Brian Barnes stating that not only did the Missouri state auditor’s office clear him of any wrongdoing but also that there was “deeply troubling” Democrat bias during an investigation of Hawley.

Although Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft had cleared Hawley of misusing Missouri state resources, Democrat State Auditor Nicole Galloway said last February she would investigate the allegations against Hawley.

Galloway, Missouri’s last statewide Democrat, also announced last year her plan to run for governor.

In one instance, the lead auditor assigned to investigate Hawley’s case, Pamela Allison, reportedly discussed “altering” the audit’s conclusions to make the audit seem more critical of the Missouri senator and his office.

The letter explained that on the same day she learned there was no “factual basis” that Hawley had neither violated confidentiality agreements nor engaged in misconduct, she wrote to colleagues in the auditor’s office, “I’m thinking I’ll just drop the confidentiality paragraph in the report and beef up the personal email/personal calendar section.”

Hawley on Wednesday released the email in which Allison discussed altering the conclusions of the audit to make it appear more damaging for the Missouri senator. Allison accidentally sent the article to the Missouri attorney general’s office.

After Allison realized that she sent the email to the wrong office, she replied, “Please disregard that email.”

In Barnes’ letter, he wrote that the state auditor’s office might have been used for “political gain.”

Hawley also questioned whether Galloway turned the auditor’s office into a “giant political campaign.”

Hawley charged that this email violates auditing and ethics standards, and perhaps even state law.

“This is unbelievable. Here Galloway lead auditor discusses CHANGING & manipulating the audit to make it more critical of my office or me,” Hawley tweeted Wednesday. “This violates basic auditing standards, ethics rules, and possibly state law. Calls for independent investigation.”