MO AG: Release of Hawley Audit Transcripts Likely Violated State Law

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said on Thursday that Missouri Democrat State Auditor Nicole Galloway’s release of Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) audit “likely” violated state law.

Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway, Missouri’s only statewide Democrat, released the audit of Hawley’s tenure as attorney general in 2017.

Galloway’s audit of Hawley cleared the senator of wrongdoing when he was the state’s attorney general. Hawley’s lawyer claimed there was “deeply troubling” Democrat bias during the investigation of the Missouri senator.

Hawley’s campaign filed a complaint with the Missouri State Board of Accountancy for what the senator described as “misconduct” committed by the state auditor and her staff.

Galloway’s 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 audit report claims that the email does not reveal a lack of objectivity or a pro-Democrat bias on the part of Galloway or her staff.

“The inadvertently sent email from the Audit Manager cited in the response is not evidence of a lack of objectivity, rather evidence that the audit team was appropriately evaluating audit evidence,” the audit suggested.

The question over alleged bias in Hawley’s audit led to Missouri State Rep. Robert Ross (R-MO), the chairman of the House Special Committee on Government Oversight, to write a letter to Galloway in January saying that his committee plans to investigate whether Galloway’s investigation of Hawley was tainted by political bias.

The Missouri representative said, “This allegation would constitute an extreme breach in the confidence the people of Missouri place in the role of your office.”

Galloway, who is running for Missouri governor, also released transcripts of the Hawley audit.

Eric Schmitt, the state’s attorney general, contended that releasing the transcripts might violate state law.

“As the Chief Legal Officer of the state of Missouri – the AG’s Office has repeatedly expressed serious concerns about the political nature of @AuditorGalloway’s audit of fmr AG@HawleyMO’s Office & the unprecedented release of transcripts likely in violation of state law,” Schmitt tweeted.

Schmitt then cited state law that “audit work papers and related supportive material SHALL be kept confidential, including any interpretations, advisory opinions, or other information or materials used and relied on in performing the audit.”

“We have grave concerns about the irreparable harm this audit could have on the auditor’s office and good government in general,” Schmitt added.

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.