Government and Politics

Washington Ledge

Dispatches from public radio's correspondent at the Washington Legislature. Austin Jenkins is the Olympia correspondent for the Northwest News Network. You can also see Austin on television as host of TVW's (the C–SPAN of Washington State) weekly public affairs program "Inside Olympia."

FBI Asked Washington State Auditor's Office To Preserve Records

NWNews | By Austin Jenkins

Published April 1, 2015 at 3:56 PM PDT

The FBI also asked that certain records from the Washington State Auditor Troy Kelley's office be preserved.

Records released Wednesday show it wasn’t just a federal grand jury that sought records from the Washington State Auditor’s office last month.

The FBI also asked that certain records be preserved.

In a letter dated March 5, the FBI asked the chief information officer for the auditor’s office to preserve all communications involving four specific email accounts. The FBI asked the chief information officer not to notify anyone about the request which also asked that phone records be preserved.

The FBI request came the same day a federal grand jury issued a subpoena for records from the Auditor’s office.

Kelley has denied any wrongdoing and said he’s “puzzled” by the feds’ interest in his previous business dealings. Kelley’s home was also searched by federal agents.

The first-term Democrat has not been charged with any crime.