A GOP lawyer who advised former President Donald Trump on his campaign to overturn the 2020 election results now plays a central role in coordinating the Republican effort to tighten voting laws across the country.
Cleta Mitchell, a longtime Republican lawyer and conservative lawyer, was among Trump’s advisers in a January phone call in which Trump asked Georgia’s election officials to “find” enough votes to declare him and not Democrat Joe Biden. the winner is the state of the battlefield.
Mitchell has now taken the lead in two separate efforts to promote stricter voting laws and fight democratic efforts to expand access to voting at the federal level. It also advises state lawmakers who draft proposals to restrict voting. And, she said Friday, she is in regular contact with Trump.
“People are actually interested in getting involved and we need to harness all that energy,” Mitchell said in an interview. “There are a lot of groups that have election integrity projects that they haven’t had before.”
Mitchell’s new prominence ties ties between the former president, who falsely insisted he lost the election because of fraud, and the GOP-led state vote review, which helped turn a fundamental principle of democracy into a battlefield. partisan.
Trump’s false allegations of fraud fueled a wave of new voting restrictions. More than 250 proposed voting restrictions were proposed this year by a majority of Republican lawmakers, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. On Thursday, Georgia’s GOP governor signed in law, a measure requiring voters to present their identity card in order to vote by post, gives the GOP-controlled state legislature new powers over local election councils and outlaws who provide food or water to people waiting in line to vote. On Friday, Biden condemned him as “Jim Crow in the 21st Century.”
In response, Democrats have stepped up momentum for a massive federal election review project. This proposal, known as HR 1, would effectively neutralize voter identification laws at the state level, allow anyone to vote by mail if they wish, and automatically register citizens to vote. Republicans see it as a violation of state control over the election and say it is designed to give Democrats an advantage.
“The left is trying to dismantle 100 years of election progress,” Mitchell said, voicing the Democrats’ accusations that Republicans are trying to suppress the vote. “We’re watching two different movies right now.”
Mitchell’s biggest public involvement in election wars came in the wake of Trump’s January 2 appeal to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. the data was incorrect.
The appeal is part of an investigation by County Prosecutor Fulton’s office to determine whether Trump or others have improperly tried to influence election officials. Mitchell did not discuss the appeal or investigation.
Mitchell’s involvement caused a stir in the legal community and led to her long-term departure from the law firm Foley & Lardner. But Mitchell says it was a blessing.
“One of the great advantages of resigning from my law firm is that I can always dedicate something I love to myself,” she said.
Mitchell has two new roles in an emerging conservative voting operation. She is running a $ 10 million initiative at the FreedomWorks limited government group, both to promote new voting restrictions and to help train conservatives to get involved in local election diseases. She is also a senior legal entity at the Conservative Partnership Institute, an organization led by former Republican Senator Jim DeMint. She says she will use this role to “coordinate” conservative voting positions, especially in opposition to HR 1.
Oklahoma state lawmaker Mitchell, 70, has ties to other influential players in the Conservative movement. She also serves as an external adviser to the U.S. Legislative Exchange Committee, a conservative group that provides model legislation to state lawmakers and has organized an appeal with state lawmakers and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas to oppose HR 1.
And Mitchell said he spoke regularly with Republican lawmakers about the need for new election laws. He did not identify who he was talking to, but said it had been a passion for a long time.
“I’ve been working with state legislators for a few years to get them to pay attention to what I call the political process,” Mitchell said. “I love the legislature and I work with lawmakers.”
Similarly, she would not detail her conversations with Trump, nor would she say whether they involved new voting struggles. “I’m quite often in touch with the president,” she said of Trump.
Repeated audits showed no significant problems with the 2020 election. Trump and his supporters lost more than 50 court cases challenging his findings.
Mitchell says he believes the courts have used legal tricks to avoid truly addressing Trump’s allegations of election fraud.
This evidence has led some conservative groups to be careful not to echo Trump’s baseless allegations of election fraud, even as he advocates stricter restrictions on American voting.
Mitchell’s role could complicate this effort to keep his distance.
“I have concerns about the election, but I don’t think the election was stolen,” said Noah Wall, FreedomWorks executive vice president. However, Wall said he saw no conflict in working with Mitchell. “When we talk about what we’re going to focus on, I don’t see any daylight between her and our problems,” Wall said.
Mitchell has a long history in the conservative movement, with positions on the boards of the National Rifle Association and the Bradley Foundation. She represented the head of Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, and was the campaign advocate for several Republican senators. She is also the president of the Legal Foundation of Public Interest, a conservative draft electoral law that she said could be involved in litigation against HR 1, if it passes, or in support of new laws such as Georgia.