Judge won’t issue TRO on use of Confide app by governor’s office

UPDATE: Cole County Judge Jon Beetam said Friday afternoon he won’t issue a temporary restraining order that would bar Gov. Eric Greitens’ staff from using the confidential messaging app Confide.

The app, which is on the personal phones of the Republican governor and multiple staffers, automatically deletes text messages after they are read. Confide also prevents capturing texts via screenshot or screen recording.

“The problem is, that communication is shredded,” said Mark Pedroli, one of the attorneys who sued the governor over use of the app. “There’s no way for your honor or this court to know what these communications were about.”

Pedroli and Ben Sansone filed the lawsuit in December on behalf of the Sunshine Project.

In order to successfully be granted the temporary restraining order, Pedroli needed to prove that the use of the app would have caused immediate and irreparable harm.

Beetam said he didn’t think the facts presented in court Friday merited one. Of the lawsuit, Beetam said there were open questions and the entire situation “merits fleshing out.”

St. Louis attorney Gabriel Gore, hired by the governor, argued that there was no evidence that the app was being used to conduct public business.

“There has been no independent factual investigation,” he said. “[They’re] only reporting what has been said in media reports.”

Gore also argued that barring the use of the app infringes on staff’s First Amendment rights.

“Private phones, private time, private matters,” he said. “Restricting the means and manner in which private citizens can communicate would implicate First Amendment issues.”

Gore said that Pedroli and Sansone would likely have their suit dismissed because it “really pleads nothing.”

But Beetam said there were still “a whole bunch of open questions” about the issue, and set it for further discussion in March.

Pedroli said Friday he wished the temporary restraining order had been granted but “loved the comments of the judge.”

“I don’t think the judge believes there’s strong grounds for dismissal,” he said.

ORIGINAL STORY: A hearing is scheduled for Friday afternoon about Gov. Eric Greitens use of a confidential messaging app.

ABC 17 previously reported that two St. Louis attorneys filed a lawsuit against the governor’s office claiming he was skirting open record laws.

The hearing on Friday is because the St. Louis attorneys have asked a Cole County judge to file a temporary injunction to block the office’s use of the Confide app.

The use of the app is not inherently illegal, but the nature of it has drawn concern from open government advocates.

Greiten’s attorney filed an opposition on Tuesday arguing there has been no proof that any confidential state records were erased by the app and blocking the use of it would stop employees from the office using it to send “purely personal, non-work related messages.”

The attorney general’s office also announced it is investigating the office’s use of the app.