Pennsylvania congressman concludes internal investigation with few answers after Ron Johnson's claims about false electors

Lawrence Andrea
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania on Thursday concluded an internal review into his office's potential involvement in the false elector scheme with few answers — finding only that staff members did not know about his former chief of staff's "reported actions."

"To date, our current chief of staff has not found staff members to have prior knowledge of Mr. Stroia’s reported actions," Kelly's press secretary Matt Knoedler said, referencing Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson's claims that former Kelly chief of staff Matt Stroia had a call with Johnson's team on Jan. 6 about giving them false elector paperwork from Wisconsin and Michigan.

"Further, Mr. Kelly is unaware of Mr. Stroia’s reported actions. We have closed the internal review," Knoedler added. 

The conclusion of the three-week internal probe offered little information about Kelly's alleged involvement in passing false elector documents to Johnson's team in the hours before Congress was set to certify Joe Biden's 2020 election victory on Jan. 6, 2021.

Johnson's office told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Wednesday that Johnson chief of staff Sean Riley had a two-minute phone call with Stroia, who was Kelly's chief of staff at the time, at 11:58 a.m. on Jan. 6 "about how Kelly's office could get us the electors because they had it."

Kelly has repeatedly denied involvement in the effort.

More:Ron Johnson's effort to pass false electors to Pence not a priority of Jan. 6 committee, chairman says

When asked by the Journal Sentinel if the investigation found that Stroia had contact with Johnson's office, Knoedler responded: "I cannot speak to the actions of Mr. Stroia as reported."

Knoedler said the goal of the investigation, which began after Johnson alleged the documents came from Kelly's office, "was to determine what, if anything, our staff knew regarding the allegations."

Johnson spokeswoman Alexa Henning in a statement said the Oshkosh Republican's statements "are and have been 100% accurate."

"Unfortunately Congressman Kelly's office continues to issue non-denial 'denials,'" Henning said. "They have changed their story from denying their involvement outright to now not denying their former chief of staff's involvement."

Earlier in the week, Jan. 6 committee chairman U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson told the Journal Sentinel that Kelly's name "didn’t come up" in the committee's investigation into the effort to get Vice President Mike Pence the false elector paperwork.

Thompson said the Department of Justice will investigate the false electors.

Contact Lawrence Andrea at landrea@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @lawrencegandrea.