As President Trump wanted to block the election results, his personal advocates paraded themselves in front of television hosts, state election officials and anyone else willing to entertain their unfounded allegations of voter fraud.
But behind the scenes, a longtime conservative lawyer named Cleta Mitchell quietly helped. Her work for mr. Trump first attracted a lot of attention over the weekend, when a recording was released of an hour-long call in which Mr. Trump threatened the election officials in Georgia with a criminal offense if they did not “find” enough votes. to change the state’s presidential results.
On the call, Mrs. Mitchell repeatedly jumped in to Mr. To help Trump, who showed an intimate degree of involvement in his efforts when he made unsubstantiated allegations about the election and pressured officials in Georgia to hand over election data.
Mitchell is a partner at law firm Foley & Lardner, which has more than 1,000 attorneys and an office in almost every major city in the United States and represents large companies such as CVS Pharmacy. Her presence during the call was noticeable because Mr. Trump has struggled to attract well-known lawyers to lure his efforts to block the election, but rather to rely on a group that included former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, foreign claims in defense of Mr. . Trump during his presidency, and Sidney Powell, who advocated conspiracy theories.
Mrs. Mitchell has been advising the president for weeks, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The day after the sound appeared, Foley & Lardner tried to distance themselves from me. Mitchell and Monday said in a statement that advocates are expected to refrain from representing or advising anyone in the election. The firm said it was considering Mitchell’s role in Mr. Trump’s legal team investigates.
“We are aware of and concerned about Ms. Mitchell’s participation in the January 2 conference and are fully understanding her involvement,” the firm said.
Mitchell did not send an email to comment.
Although she is affiliated with an established law firm, Mrs. Mitchell the form of many lawyers Trump advised during his presidency when he faced a special advocacy investigation and accusation and has now made a major effort to block the vote.
Me. For years, Mitchell has represented a variety of conservatives, such as Scott Pruitt, Mr. Trump’s former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, and organizations like the National Rifle Association. In recent years, she has represented conservative Tea Party groups that have accused the IRS of wrongly targeting.
During the Russia investigation, Ms. Mitchell publicly attacked the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, in the news media and asked why his team did not investigate Hillary Clinton instead.
Me. Mitchell, 70, began her political career as a Democrat and was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives in the mid-1920s and served for nearly a decade before running unsuccessfully for a lieutenant governor in 1986.
She came to Washington in 1996 as an activist campaigning for the term restriction and in 1996 registered as a Republican. She has established herself as one of the leading advocates of the party’s non-profit and non-profit parties, representing its congressional campaign and a number of its candidates, as well as Republican-backed groups, including the NRA, where she also represents the served on the board.
But unlike most traditional political advocates, Ms. Mitchell maintained a public profile that supported candidates and business and earned a reputation as a fire-eater. She was a leading critic of the IRS’s treatment of non-profit groups associated with the Tea Party movement during the Obama administration, and of state and local coronavirus restrictions that religious groups opposed last year.
During the Trump administration, Mrs. Mitchell also represents the non-profit organization of the president’s former chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, who was investigated by federal prosecutors in Manhattan as part of a broad investigation or Mr. Bannon deceived donors.
At one point in the call over the weekend, Mr. Trump raised an unfounded claim over Atlanta ballot papers filed for pres. Joseph R. Biden Jr.
“Does anyone know?” Mr. Trump asked.
‘I know about it, but – ”said me. Mitchell said before being interrupted by the president.
‘OK, Cleta, I’m not asking you. Cleta, honestly. I ask for Brad, “said Mr. Trump said with reference to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of Georgia.
Maggie Haberman contribution made. Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.