Schock attorneys claim government on 'fishing expedition' for wrongdoing

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Nearly six months after his indictment on federal corruption charges, former Illinois Congressman Aaron Schock says the government is improperly trying to gather more evidence against him.

Schock's attorneys said Monday that federal prosecutors are on a "far-reaching fishing expedition" against him by continuing their investigation long after two grand juries finished theirs.

READ: MOTION FILED BY SCHOCK'S ATTORNEY

In a sharply-worded motion, attorneys for the former Peoria lawmaker tried to block the government from additional time to prepare evidence, claiming they've already had long enough.

It has been more than two years since the red paint started peeling off of his political career disclosures were made about his Downton Abbey office decor on Capitol Hill.

A federal grand jury indicted Schock last November and his lawyers say that should have been the end of the investigation, but it was not.

In the new court filing, Schock's attorneys said "the government appears to be abusing the court's process to conduct discovery and continue its investigation after the conclusion of the grand jury ... this, despite the fact that the government had twenty months and two grand juries to conduct its investigation."

The government is asking for additional time to prepare its evidentiary disclosures in preparation for a scheduled July 10 trial.

Schock's attorneys are attempting to block an extension of deadlines, contending that prosecutors are "improperly continuing to investigate this case post-indictment," issuing subpoenas they claim are extremely broad including a demand to produce "nine years' worth of electronic records estimated to contain 50,000 emails."

Defense lawyers also point to a copy of a darkened cellphone text message provided by prosecutors that the government intends to use against Schock as proof of wrongdoing. The defense maintains this typifies meager evidence turned over by the prosecution.

Schock's attorneys said that "when asked to produce the original text messages, the government informed defense counsel that the agent handling the confidential informant had deactivated her original phone and forgotten her password so she could now no longer access text messages on her phone.