A Milwaukee-based law firm said it was “concerned” about the participation of its lawyer Cleta Mitchell in Saturday’s call between President Trump
Donald TrumpCotton breaks with conservative colleagues who will oppose Trump’s electoral vote count to give Nunes the Medal of Freedom: reports Hogan says lawmakers “scheme” to overturn election results “mocks our system” MORE and Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger.
Foley & Lardner, the law firm where Mitchell serves as a partner, issued a statement after The Washington Post released audio of the call, in which Trump repeatedly asked Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes to make the president the winner of the state, rather than the president-elect Joe Biden
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“We are aware of and concerned about Ms. Mitchell’s participation in the January 2 conference call and are working to understand her involvement more deeply,” the company said in a statement.
The statement indicated that Foley & Lardner made the decision in November not to represent “any parties that intend to contest the results of the presidential election.”
The firm allowed its lawyers to participate in observing election recounts and similar activities as private citizens, as long as they did not serve as legal advisers.
During Saturday’s conference call, Trump told Raffensperger that “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than us. Because we won the state.”
Mitchell, who was among several lawyers on the call, questioned Raffensperger about his investigation into the Georgia election, which concluded that Biden won the state.
“You have data and records that we don’t have access to and you keep telling us and making public statements that you investigated this and, you know, nothing to see here,” said Mitchell, according to for a transcript. “But we don’t know about that. All we know is what you tell us.”
Georgia’s secretary of state countered Mitchell and Trump’s statements on the call, saying “We don’t agree that you won.”
He also said that Georgian officials believe the election was fair.
Mitchell did not immediately return a request for comment, but has already made a statement to the Post defending the call.
The lawyer said Raffensperger “has made many statements in the past two months that are simply not correct and everyone involved in the efforts on behalf of the president’s election challenge said the same thing: show us your records that you trust to make those statements that our numbers are wrong. “
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows
Mark MeadowsGeorge Conway calls Meadows ‘idiot’ and ‘disgrace’ 2020: a year in Republican photos struggling to avoid legislative holiday disasters MORE, who was also present on the call, said Mitchell “is not the registration attorney, but was involved,” according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Mitchell is based in DC and represented several right-wing and Republican groups, including the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Rifle Association and the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Lincoln Project, the anti-Trump GOP group, posted on Twitter the phone numbers of the Foley & Lardner offices in Milwaukee and DC, encouraging followers to share their thoughts on Mitchell’s involvement in the call.
The audio release of the Georgia summons comes days before Congress plans to meet to certify the election results, although dozens of Republicans in the House and Senate must try to challenge the Electoral College vote.