Republican served with subpoena during CPAC appearance

OXON HILL, Md. — Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., was served with a subpoena on Friday after an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Hawley was handed the subpoena, issued on Feb. 11 by Cole County Circuit Court in his home state, by Elad Gross, a Democratic 2020 candidate for Missouri attorney general - the job Hawley held until January after being elected last year to the Senate. Hawley was at the Maryland gathering to speak about conservatives and social media.

Gross told the Washington Examiner he asked for the subpoena as part of an open records investigation into former Missouri Republican Gov. Eric Greitens and 27 groups and individuals connected with so-called "dark money." He had originally asked the governor's office and Hawley, then-attorney general, for access to 13,000 documents, but claimed they both ignored his requests, triggering a lawsuit. Hawley has sought to quash the subpoena on several grounds, including his position as "a high-level public official." "We are currently in the discovery phase of the lawsuit, which means I have to collect evidence to support my case," Gross, a St. Louis-based lawyer, wrote in an email. "Senator Hawley is a witness in this case. I asked him to cooperate, but he would not. So I asked the Court to issue a subpoena. He hired five attorneys to oppose my request, and one of the objections they raised was that Senator Hawley had not been personally served, despite his attorneys having the subpoena. I kept trying to serve him. We succeeded today." A spokesperson for Hawley did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner's request for comment. The matter will next be heard in court on March 15.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/hawley-served-at-cpac-over-missouri-open-records-case