BREAKING: New document shows Josh Shapiro may have been providing legal advice to senior aide accused of sexual harassment while publicly claiming to investigate him: report

Governor Josh Shapiro, frontrunner in the rumor mill for Kamala Harris' VP pick, has been accused of a conflict of interest in which his gubernatorial office provided legal advice to a man they were also investigating. A new report from Broad + Liberty, based on a document they obtained, shows that Shapiro's office "may have been providing legal advice to then-Secretary of Legislative Affairs Mike Vereb while simultaneously investigating Vereb for workplace harassment claims made by one of his subordinates in March 2023."

This would be a major conflict of interest as it would mean that Shapiro's office was disingenuous in their investigation, as one cannot simultaneously investigate someone over abuse allegations and advise that person in regards to being investigated without doing a very poor job of one of those things. Vereb resigned from his position in September 2023 in a move that was reportedly "linked to workplace harassment allegations made months before by a female deputy who worked in Vereb’s office but lasted only a month before resigning." The harassment and sexual assault allegations were settled out of court for $295,000. 

When Broad + Liberty attempted to obtain these documents showing the alleged conflict of interest, Shapiro's office "largely denied the request," they said, caused them to appeal to the Office of Open Records. In response to this, the governor's office "produced an exemption log for many of the documents it hoped to avoid having to turn over." Additional document requests have yielded no results, leading to speculation that the documents on the investigation do not exist. 

In response to the requests, the governor's open records officer told Broad + Liberty that "If such investigation occurred, those records exist and are exempt – if no such investigation occurred, no such records exist."

"It would not be any surprise to me to find out there was zero investigation done," Rep. Abby Major (R) from western PA said. "I have said from the beginning that if the [accusing] documents hadn’t been leaked that [the governor’s office] would have paid the settlement, had [the accuser] sign the non-disclosure agreement, and Mike Vereb would still be working in that office."

Shapiro's spokesperson Manuel Bonder said "[A]s we have repeatedly stated, the Commonwealth maintains an independent, robust, professional process to allow people to come forward safely, as was the case in this matter. Through that process, every investigation is conducted independently from the Governor’s Office. Your assumptions to the contrary are false and unfounded." For Shapiro's part, when he was asked about it, he noted that Vereb was no longer with his administration. However, Vereb continued in Harrisburg for six months after the allegations became known.