FBI Knocks, Milwaukee Answers With Two New Law Firms On Its Side

Returned ballots for the November 2020 election. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

If and when the Trump administration comes knocking to dispute the results of the 2020 election, the City of Milwaukee will have a team of lawyers ready to defend itself.

Without discussion Tuesday, the Milwaukee Common Council unanimously approved allowing City Attorney Evan Goyke to hire outside counsel to represent the city on “election-related needs.”

The authorization was first introduced on May 12. That same week, the FBI visited the home of Milwaukee County Elections Director Michelle Hawley, seeking to interview her. The next week, sources confirmed that the FBI was looking to interview Milwaukee Police Department officers who were on duty during the November 2020 election.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly said there was fraud in the 2020 election. There is no known evidence of tampering or wrongdoing in the 2020 election in Wisconsin. A full recount was conducted in Milwaukee and Dane counties, which expanded Biden’s margin of victory. Several lawsuits from the Trump campaign were dismissed. A legislative audit turned up no wrongdoing, nor did a state-funded investigation initiated by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Goyke, who leads a team of about three dozen attorneys, will now have two specialist firms to call on should the issue escalate.

The council approved hiring the Public Rights Project and The Washington Litigation Group to represent the city on a pro bono basis.

The city previously retained the Public Rights Project on a no-cost basis to defend its interests related to federal grants the Trump administration was attempting to rescind. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the city lost almost all of a $36.5 million grant to rebuild 6th St.

Both firms are pro bono groups that work on specific issues for free. The Washington Litigation Group is a nonpartisan team of attorneys “dedicated to defending individuals and institutions that have been unlawfully targeted for exercising their legal rights and to fighting against governmental overreach.”

“Our mission is to help local government officials fight for civil rights,” says the Public Rights Project website.

The council has never discussed the matter publicly. Authorization to hire outside counsel was included on the agenda for the Judiciary & Legislation Committee’s May 26 meeting, but the committee spent more than an hour in closed session on it and other issues before returning to open session to recommend approving the authorization without discussion.

Goyke, who was elected in 2024, declined to comment on the matter.

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