Audit documents show Hawley aide had Confide before probing Greitens for using app
A top deputy of former Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley testified that he downloaded and used the Confide mobile application, which deletes text messages after they are viewed, before being assigned to investigate former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens for using the same technology.
The acknowledgement is contained in a trove of records disclosed as part of Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway’s audit of Hawley’s office during his short tenure (2017 to 2019) as attorney general. Testimony obtained during the inquiry shows that top staffers either downloaded Confide or knew about their colleagues in the Attorney General’s office using the application.
Galloway’s audit criticized Hawley for potentially using his office for political gain. But it stopped short of concluding that laws were broken because Hawley’s staff communicated through personal emails and text messages. Hawley, now a U.S. Senator, criticized the audit as a political exercise by Galloway, who is running for governor as a Democrat.
Michael Martinich-Sauter, Hawley’s deputy general counsel, testified that he downloaded Confide in January 2017, the same month Hawley was sworn into office. He also testified that he exchanged messages on Confide with Evan Rosell, Hawley’s chief of staff.
The use of Confide raises questions about whether state laws meant to preserve and disclose public records were flouted by government officials who used the application to exchange messages about government matters.
Martinich-Sauter was later involved in an investigation into whether top staffers of former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens used Confide and whether records laws were broken. The investigation concluded that Greitens’ office did not break the law.
But the probe was criticized for its laxness, including Hawley’s staff agreeing to limit interviews of Greitens aides to 15 minutes. The investigation also did not disclose the AG’s staff’s use of Confide.
In his testimony, Martinich-Sauter denied sending or receiving messages on Confide that dealt with state business. Instead, he said his messages teased Rosell, a graduate of the University of Kansas, with “mean-spirited” jabs about Kansas Jayhawks basketball.
It’s impossible to verify testimony about the contents of messages exchanged over Confide. The application erases texts as soon as they are read and prevents recipients from taking screenshots of messages.
Martinich-Sauter, now an associate attorney in St. Louis with the Husch Blackwell law firm, said he had Confide briefly.
“You know, as somebody who does civil litigation, I kind of wanted to understand the various media that kids are using these days, so to speak,” Martinich-Sauter said, according to a transcription of the conversation he had with auditors in Galloway’s office.
Rosell’s testimony backs up Martinich-Sauter’s account. Rosell further testified that he told deputy attorney general Darrell Moore or Missouri solicitor general John Sauer that he downloaded Confide.
Moore, along with Martinich-Sauter, was personally involved in the Greitens Confide investigation.
“I mean, it was kind of a frivolous thing, and that’s the extent to which I used it, to the best of my recollection,” Rosell testified.
Mark Pedroli, a St. Louis County attorney who sued the governor’s office in 2017 over Greitens’ use of Confide, said Missourians have “long suspected that Hawley’s investigation of Greitens was a whitewash.”
The auditor’s office interviewed three of Hawley’s high-level staffers, with two admitting to using Confide prior to the Greitens investigation.
Pedroli said: “That’s a big problem for such a small sample size.”
“Hawley should have recused his office from the investigation and had an independent prosecutor appointed,” Pedroli said. “He didn’t. As a result, taxpayers got a fake investigation and had to rely on private attorneys and journalists to learn the truth.”
