Allison then responded to Hensley: “I’m thinking I’ll just drop the confidentiality paragraph in the report and beef up the personal email/personal calendar section.”

One minute later, she told Hensley: “Please disregard that last email.”

It is unclear what will be included in the audit of Hawley’s office. The auditor’s office has yet to release its final report.

The state auditor performs close-out audits of statewide offices when an officeholder departs. Hawley resigned in January 2019 after being elected to the Senate.

“This is unbelievable,” Hawley said on Twitter last week. “Here Galloway lead auditor discusses CHANGING & manipulating the audit to make it more critical of my office or me.”

Chris Nuelle, spokesman for the attorney general’s office, said the email chain was included in the attorney general’s office audit response this month, in which the auditor’s office and Hawley’s attorney were both copied.

Ross said that if the allegations were true, it would harm the auditor’s credibility.

“This allegation would constitute an extreme breach in the confidence the people of Missouri place in the role of your office,” he said.