Cleta Mitchell

Cleta B. Deatherage Mitchell (born September 16, 1950) is an American lawyer, politician and conservative activist.[1] Elected in 1976, Mitchell served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives until 1984, representing District 44 as a member of the Democratic Party. In 1996, she registered as a Republican.[2] Since then, she has worked as a Republican lawyer and conservative activist.

Cleta Mitchell
Member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives
from the 44th district
In office
1976–1984
Preceded byMina Hibdon
Succeeded byCarolyn Thompson Taylor
Personal details
Born
Cleta B. Deatherage

(1950-09-16) September 16, 1950
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic (Until 1996)
Independent (1996)
Republican (1996–present)
Spouse(s)Duane Draper (1973–1982)
Dale Mitchell (1984–present)
EducationUniversity of Oklahoma (BA, JD)

After Democratic candidate Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, Mitchell aided Donald Trump in his efforts to overturn the election results and pressure election officials to "find" sufficient votes for him to win.[2] After participating in a telephone call in which Trump appeared to pressure Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to alter the election results, Mitchell resigned as a partner at Foley & Lardner.[3][4]

Early life and education
Cleta Mitchell

Cleta Mitchell was born as Cleta B. Deatherage on September 16, 1950, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.[5] She attended Classen High School her junior and senior year. In 1971, Mitchell was one of the five original conveners of the Oklahoma Women's Political Caucus.[6] She received a B.A. in 1973 and a J.D. in 1975, both from the University of Oklahoma.[7][8][9]

Political career

As a student she was a proponent of the women's rights movement and campaigned for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and for legal recognition–then denied in Oklahoma–of a homemaker's contribution to the value of a married couple's estate. She considered US Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine her role model.[6]

Oklahoma House of Representatives

Mitchell served as a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1976 to 1984, as member of the Democratic Party.[5] In her second term, Mitchell chaired the Oklahoma House Appropriations and Budget Committee.[5][7][8][9] She served on the executive committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures.[7][8][9] She was a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics in 1981.[10][11]

Career after the House

Mitchell returned to politics and ran unsuccessfully for Oklahoma lieutenant governor in 1986.[10] In 1996, Mitchell switched her political affiliation from Democratic to independent, and then, to the Republican.[10][2][12]

In 1991 she moved to Washington, D.C. to become a pro-term limits activist; that year, she was named executive director of the Term Limits Legal Institute.[10] She was co-counsel for the petitioners in the U.S. Supreme Court case U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, in which the Court held that the federal Constitution precluded state governments from imposing term limits for federal office.[13]

Until January 2021, Mitchell was a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Foley & Lardner,[7][8][9] resigning due to its concern about her involvement in the call Trump made to attempt reversal of the Georgia certified votes in the 2020 election. She has served as legal counsel for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the National Rifle Association.[7][8] She has represented Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), and Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK).[9][1] She has also represented Tea Party Republican candidates Sharron Angle of Nevada and Alaska's Joe Miller.[1]

She is on the boards of numerous conservative organizations, including the Bradley Foundation,[14] the National Rifle Association (NRA) (where she has also been a lawyer), the American Conservative Union Foundation,[15][16] as well as the Republican National Lawyers Association, of which she is a former president.[7][8][9] As a board member of the American Conservative Union (ACU), Mitchell played a major role in efforts to expel GOProud (a pro-gay rights Republican group) from the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a major annual right-wing convention organized by the ACU.[10]

In 2013, conservative Newsmax magazine named Mitchell as one of the Republican Party's 25 most influential women.[17]

Mitchell has been a leading critic of the IRS; accusing the agency of targeting tea party groups.[18][19] She testified before Congress in 2014, asserting that "the commissioner of the IRS lied to congress".[19] She called for the IRS to be abolished.[18] Investigations by Congress and federal agencies later concluded that there was no evidence that the IRS targeted conservative groups.[18]

Mitchell represented Donald Trump in 2011, defending him against accusations that he had violated federal election laws in an exploratory campaign for president.[20]

Mitchell was the trustee of EPA administrator Scott Pruitt's legal defense fund. As trustee of that fund, she sought donations to the fund by individuals who had interests before the EPA.[21] In 2019, she represented Stephen Bannon's nonprofit, Citizens of the American Republic.[19]

In 2018, McClatchyDC reported that Mitchell, as a longtime lawyer for the NRA, had previously expressed concerns about the NRA's close ties to Russia and the possibility that Russia had been funneling cash through the NRA into Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Mitchell denied ever having expressed such concerns. Mitchell's name was included in a list of people that Democrats on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee sought to interview in connection with the committee's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.[16]

Mitchell was a staunch opponent of public health measures implemented at the state and local levels to halt the spread of COVID-19.[2] In late September 2020, she attended a White House event celebrating Trump's nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Mitchell did not wear a mask and did not socially distance. The event became a COVID-19 superspreading event, with numerous attendees and participants testing positive for COVID-19 shortly afterward. Despite having been exposed to COVID-19, Mitchell attended another event days later in which she again did not wear a mask nor did she socially distance, in contravention of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that state that people exposed to COVID-19 should self-isolate for 14 days to avoid infecting others.[22]

Attempt to overturn the 2020 election
Main article: Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election

Mitchell is chair of the conservative activist group Public Interest Legal Foundation that is known for making false claims of voter fraud.[23] Without evidence, she has claimed that Democrats engage in a "very well-planned-out assault" on election systems.[23] Prior to the 2020 election, she organized legal efforts to challenge mail-in ballots cast in the election.[24]

After Joe Biden won the 2020 election and President Donald Trump refused to concede, Mitchell claimed without evidence that dead people voted in the election.[25]

On January 2, 2021, she participated in the hour-long telephone conversation between Trump and Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, during which Trump pressured Raffensperger to investigate thinly supported claims disputing the results of the 2020 presidential election that allegedly were based on doctored videos and unsubstantiated rumors from right-wing media. Following that telephone call Mitchell accused Raffensperger, without evidence, of saying things "that are simply not correct" about the presidential results in Georgia.[26][27] On January 4, the law firm of Foley & Lardner released a statement saying the firm's policy is not to represent parties seeking to contest the results of the 2020 election, that they are "aware of, and concerned by" Mitchell's participation in the telephone call, and were "working to understand her involvement more thoroughly".[28] The next day, she resigned from Foley & Lardner. The firm then issued a statement that said Mitchell "concluded that her departure was in the firm’s best interests, as well as in her own personal best interests".[20] She blamed a purported "massive pressure campaign in the last several days mounted by leftist groups via social media" for her resignation.[29]

Published works

Personal life

She married Duane Draper, a fellow Oklahoman from Norman, in 1973. In 1980 he took a teaching fellowship at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, moving to Massachusetts. The couple divorced two years later in July 1982 on grounds of "incompatibility".[10] Draper later came out as a gay man, becoming the director of AIDS programming at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in 1988. He died of AIDS in 1991.[10]

In 1984, Cleta Deatherage married Dale Mitchell, who was the son of 1940s and 1950s All-Star Cleveland Indians and Brooklyn Dodgers left-fielder (Loren) Dale Mitchell.[10] They have a daughter.[5] In 1986, the FBI began investigating Dale Mitchell for banking malpractice, and in 1992 he was convicted of five felony counts of conspiracy to defraud, misapplying bank funds and making false statements to banks.[10] He was ordered to pay $3 million in restitution, given a suspended sentence of five years, and ordered to perform community service.[30][31] Her husband's conviction on one count was reversed on appeal and the amount of restitution was reduced.[32] As a consequence of findings of the prosecutors' investigation, he had agreed in 1988 to self-removal from banking.[31] According to Cleta Mitchell, his conviction convinced her that "overreaching government regulation is one of the great scandals of our times".[33]

References
  1. Elizabeth Williamson, Riding Shotgun on Campaign Trail, The Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2010
  2. Schmidt, Michael S.; Vogel, Kenneth P. (January 5, 2021). "Trump Lawyer on Call Is a Conservative Firebrand Aiding His Push to Overturn Election". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  3. Kranish, Michael (January 5, 2021). "Cleta Mitchell, who advised Trump on Saturday phone call, resigns from law firm". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  4. Polants, Katelyn (January 5, 2021). "Attorney who assisted Trump on call with Georgia officials resigns from law firm". CNN. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  5. Pappas, Christine. "Mitchell, Cleta Deatherage (1950– )". Oklahoma Historical Society. Archived from the original on December 28, 2017.
  6. Mitchell, Cleta Deatherage (June 21, 2007). "Oral history interview with Cleta Deatherage Mitchell". Women of the Oklahoma Legislature (Interview). Interviewed by Tanya Finchum. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  7. "Cleta Mitchell". Foley & Lardner LLP. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  8. "Cleta Mitchell". American Conservative Union. Archived from the original on March 21, 2013.
  9. "Ms. Cleta Mitchell". Republican National Lawyers Association. Archived from the original on March 6, 2017.
  10. Krohn, Jonathan. "Meet Cleta Mitchell, the Conservative Movement's Anti-Gay Eminence Grise". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  11. Pappas, Christine. "Mitchell, Cleta Deatherage". Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  12. Who’s Cleta Mitchell, Trump's Lawyer On Georgia Call?, Forbes Magazine, Tommy Beer, January 5, 2020. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  13. U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U.S. 779 (1995).
  14. "The Bradley Foundation Board of Directors". The Lynda and Harry Bradley Foundation. Archived from the original on February 16, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
  15. "National Rifle Association Board of Directors". Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence. Archived from the original on January 9, 2013. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
  16. Stone, Peter; Gordon, Greg (March 15, 2018). "NRA lawyer said to have had concerns about group's ties to Russia". mcclatchydc. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
  17. Meyers, Jim (July 31, 2013). "The 25 Influential Women of the GOP". Newsmax. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  18. O'Harrow Jr., Robert (December 17, 2017). "Fallout from allegations of tea party targeting hamper IRS oversight of nonprofits". The Washington Post.
  19. Schwartz, Brian (June 25, 2019). "Steve Bannon hires D.C. super lawyer and Mueller skeptic to represent his nonprofit". CNBC. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  20. "Trump Lawyer Cleta Mitchell Leaves Firm After Georgia Call". Bloomberg Law. January 5, 2020.
  21. Bogardus, Kevin (April 24, 2019). "EPA: Pruitt's lawyer sought billionaire's help for fund". E&E News. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  22. Papenfuss, Mary (October 6, 2020). "Lawyer At White House COVID-Cluster Event Spoke Later To Group Fighting Mail-In Votes". HuffPost. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  23. Tanfani, Simon Lewis, Joseph (September 9, 2020). "Special Report: How a small group of U.S. lawyers pushed voter fraud fears into the mainstream". Reuters. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  24. Papenfuss, Mary (November 10, 2020). "Watch Fox News Host's Look Of Utter Disdain Over Voter Fraud Claim On Hot Mic". Huffington Post. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  25. Joseph, Samantha (November 7, 2020). "'Dead People Having Voted': Foley Lardner Partner Says Trump Has Proof of Illegal Ballots". Law.com. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  26. Gardner, Amy (January 3, 2021). "'I just want to find 11,780 votes': In extraordinary hour-long call, Trump pressures Georgia secretary of state to recalculate the vote in his favor". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  27. Gardner, Amy; Firozi, Paulina (January 3, 2021). "Here's the full transcript and audio of the call between Trump and Raffensperger". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  28. CZACHOR, EMILY (January 4, 2021). "Law firm "concerned" about partner being part of Trump's "find 11,780 votes" call". Newsweek. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  29. "Trump lawyer Cleta Mitchell quit her law firm after being part of the president's controversial Georgia phone call". Business Insider. January 5, 2021. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  30. Godfrey, Ed (December 15, 1992). "Jury Finds Ex-Banker Guilty on 5 Counts". The Oklahoman.
  31. Godfrey, Ed (April 15, 1993). "Ex-Banker Gets Parole For Fraud Restitution Payment Ordered". The Oklahoman. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  32. "United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Dale E. Mitchell, Defendant-appellant, 15 F.3d 953 (10th Cir. 1994)". Justia. January 28, 1993. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  33. Mayer, Jane (October 14, 1996). "The Outsider". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
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