July 23, 2019
In response to the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Attorney’s office today, titled the “U.S. vs. The Custodian of Record for the state of Utah”, the Attorney General’s Office responds as follows:
“This case is about conduct that took place before AG Reyes or his current leadership team were in office.”
“It involves allegations related to numerous state agencies. As part of its constitutional duties, the Utah AGO is representing those agencies in this matter.”
“The Utah AGO has cooperated with the OIG investigation to the maximum extent allowable under legal and ethical rules and has been following strict orders of this court not to disclose anything publicly.”
“In fact, the federal court overseeing this matter issued an order/gave explicit instructions that our office could not discuss in public/with the media the substantive issues in this case.”
“However, we do not believe it is a violation of the court’s order to reiterate/clarify that: (1) this administration had nothing to do with the alleged conduct, (2) the state agencies involved in this matter are represented by the Utah AGO and these agencies will provide defenses of their conduct at the appropriate time when instructed by the court, (3) the AGO has fully cooperated with OIG and handled this case with professionalism and excellence on behalf of the State of Utah.”