- Approximately 2,000 emails belonging to the late North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem have been released with redactions.
- Incumbent Attorney General Drew Wrigley has yet to release an additional 6,000 emails, in addition to countless text messages awaiting review.
- Mr. Stenehjem’s emails, which contributed to the lawsuit against his longtime colleague, former state Sen. Ray Holmberg, were presumed lost forever after his administrative assistant ordered them deleted after his death.
Thousands of emails about North Dakota’s late attorney general have been released by his successor. The long-sought records were mired in controversy and were previously thought to be lost forever.
Attorney General Drew Wrigley released about 2,000 emails Wednesday, including redactions. An additional 6,000 emails and unreleased text messages have yet to be reviewed and released, he said.
The late Wayne Stenehjem’s emails are presumed to be lost forever and were deleted at the direction of his executive assistant, Liz Blocker, days after his death in January 2022. The deleted emails and construction cost overruns that occurred under Stenegem, which amounted to more than $1 million, were both disclosed by Wrigley. — shocked state lawmakers and government watchdogs.
Dead North Dakota AG’s email deletion case won’t be prosecuted
These emails are now part of an investigation into the former lawmaker.
The emails appear to be fairly routine, include staff messages and office meetings, and cover most of 2021-2022.
Mr. Stenegem also apparently conducted state business through a private email account, which is legal but “does not violate open records rules,” Mr. Wrigley said Thursday.
The late North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem is pictured here. (Tom Strom/Bismarck Tribune, Associated Press, File)
Wrigley’s office recently retrieved the emails. They were stored in a backup of Stenehjem’s personal cell phone, extracted shortly after his death, and discovered by investigators during preparations for the trial of former Republican state Sen. Ray Holmberg.
According to a federal indictment unsealed last fall, Holmberg, 80, of Grand Forks, traveled to Europe to pay for sex acts with minors and depicted child sexual abuse. He is charged with receiving the images. He pleaded not guilty. A trial is scheduled for September.
Mr. Holmberg and Mr. Stenehjem are friends and served in Congress together for decades. Holmberg resigned in early 2022.
Mr. Wrigley said Mr. Stenegem had not recused himself from the Holmberg case and was considered a witness and at one point was questioned. Mr. Steneghem has not been charged with any crime in connection with Mr. Holmberg.
Media searched Mr Stenegem’s emails in mid-2022, shortly after Mr Wrigley revealed the cost overruns. Councilors raised concerns about trusts and the way construction projects were being handled. The project was to consolidate departments of the Attorney General’s Office into his one location in Bismarck.
Records requests by reporters revealed that Stenegem’s email account and that of his aide, Troy Sabel, were deleted after he resigned.
Blocker resigned around the time reporters learned of the takedowns at her direction. In February, the special prosecutor rejected charges related to the deleted emails.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Wrigley said the emails are being considered in conjunction with records requests, the Holmberg case and cost overruns.
