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Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith, in an email to County Counselor Beth Orwick on Tuesday afternoon, said, “It is St. Louis County’s decision whether or not those grand jury subpoenas are disclosable under the Missouri Sunshine Law or other applicable state or local law.”

Goldsmith was responding to a two-page letter sent by Page on Monday that asked how to respond to Councilman Tim Fitch’s request that the county make public any federal subpoenas received since Jan. 1, 2020.

Page’s office provided a copy of Goldsmith’s email after a reporter asked for clarification on an exchange between Page and Fitch during the County Council meeting Tuesday night.

Fitch requested the records in the wake of the indictment last week of Tony Weaver Sr., a Page appointee accused of attempting to defraud a small business grant program. Orwick denied Fitch’s request, saying the records were confidential. Weaver has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Page on Monday referred Fitch’s request to Goldsmith in a separate letter to the federal prosecutor that also accused the councilman, a Republican, of “attempting to interfere with a federal investigation.” The letter also sharply criticized Jane Dueker, an attorney challenging Page in the Democratic primary.

Fitch, during the council meeting Tuesday, accused Page of ducking his question and asked again, adding he wanted an answer whether Page had gotten “all of that information that we’re not going to get.”

“I have not received a response, so I will ask the county executive, do you plan on responding?” Fitch said.

Page said the county “did receive a response from Hal Goldsmith today, and he did recognize that we could now say that we have received subpoenas and it was a federal investigation.”

That investigation, Page said, was limited to the scope of the federal indictment unsealed and made public June 7.

“The only people that know about the investigation are the U.S. attorney’s office,” Page said. “We know what we read in the indictment, I read the same indictment that you did, this indictment is about a former county employee who was attempting to influence the small business relief program in two county council districts.”

Fitch asked whether Goldsmith also said “whether or not you could share those (subpoenas) with the council.”

Page said, “Goldsmith’s response was that there is an ongoing federal investigation and that he would recommend the county counselor’s office follow the state statute.”

He deferred to Orwick, who again said the records were confidential but offered to speak with Fitch in further detail behind closed doors. It was not immediately clear Tuesday night what that conversation entailed.

Orwick’s office has also declined a separate Sunshine request submitted by the Post-Dispatch, citing a provision of the state law that allows governments to close records of “legal actions, causes of action or litigation involving a public governmental body and any confidential or privileged communications between a public governmental body or its representatives and its attorneys.”

The city of St. Louis recently released federal subpoenas June 1 in response to a records request from the Post-Dispatch after Alderman John Collins-Muhammad resigned. Collins-Muhammad was one of three former aldermen indicted on federal bribery charges June 3 by Goldsmith’s office.

Asked after the council meeting what made the cases different, Page deferred to Orwick but said he “will trust her judgment.”

He said Goldsmith’s “recommendation is to interpret the Sunshine Law and state statutes, I trust our county counselor and I trust our U.S. Attorney to make the right decision.”

“I will trust her judgment and I’m not going to argue with her when she makes a decision about how to handle a federal investigation of a former county employee or how to respond to subpoenas.” 

Posted at 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, June 14.