Law firm ‘concerned’ about attorney’s participation in Trump’s Georgia call

A Milwaukee-based law firm said it was “concerned” about its attorney Cleta Mitchell’s participation in the Saturday phone call between President Trump and Georgia 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 from the call, in which Trump repeatedly asked Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes to make the president the winner of the state instead of President-elect Joe Biden.

“We are aware of, and are concerned by, Ms. Mitchell’s participation in the January 2 conference call and are working to understand her involvement more thoroughly,” the firm said in a statement.

The statement indicated that Foley & Lardner made the decision in November not to represent “any parties seeking to contest the results of the presidential election.”

The firm did permit its attorneys to participate in observing election recounts and similar activities as private citizens as long as they did not serve as legal advisers.

During the Saturday call, Trump told Raffensperger that “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”

Mitchell, who was among several lawyers on the call, questioned Raffensperger on his investigation into Georgia’s election that 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’ve investigated this and, you know, nothing to see here,” Mitchell said, according to a transcript.  “But we don’t know about that. All we know is what you tell us.”

The Georgia secretary of state countered Mitchell’s and Trump’s claims on the call, saying “We don’t agree that you have won.”

He also said Georgia officials believe the election had been fair.

Mitchell did not immediately return a request for comment but previously gave a statement to the Post defending the call. 

The attorney said Raffensperger “has made many statements over the past two months that are simply not correct and everyone involved with the efforts on behalf of the President’s election challenge has said the same thing: show us your records on which you rely to make these statements that our numbers are wrong.”

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who was also present on the call, said Mitchell “is not the attorney of record but has been involved,” according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

Mitchell is based in D.C. and has represented several right-wing and Republican groups, including the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Rifle Association and the American Legislative Exchange Council.

The Lincoln Project, the anti-Trump GOP group, posted on Twitter the phone numbers of Foley & Lardner’s Milwaukee and D.C. offices, encouraging followers to share their thoughts on Mitchell’s involvement in the phone call. 

The release of the Georgia call’s audio comes days before Congress plans to meet to certify the election results, although dozens of Republicans in the House and Senate are expected to attempt to contest the Electoral College vote.