A Trump legal adviser announced Tuesday that she was resigning from her law firm days after a phone call between President Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger that she was a part of made headlines.
Republican attorney Cleta Mitchell wrote a letter to clients on Tuesday to notify them that she was stepping down from Foley & Lardner, according to Business Insider.
“As you are probably aware, there has been a massive pressure campaign in the last several days mounted by leftist groups via social media and other means against me, my law firm, and clients of the law firm, because of my personal involvement with President Trump, his campaign and the White House, related to the November 3 general election in Georgia,” Mitchell wrote. “After discussions with my firm’s management, I have decided that it is in both of our interests that I leave the firm.”
During the phone call, audio of which was leaked to the Washington Post on Sunday, Trump reiterated claims that Georgia’s election integrity was undermined and demanded that Raffensperger “find 11,780 votes” for him, enough votes to overturn the result of Georgia’s election.
“You know what they did, and you’re not reporting it. That’s a criminal offense, and you can’t let that happen. That’s a big risk,” Trump said. “So, look. All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”
Defending the integrity of the election, Raffensperger pushed back on Trump’s claims, telling him he was citing incorrect data.
After news of the phone call broke, Foley & Lardner emphasized that it was “not representing any parties seeking to contest the results of the presidential election” and distanced itself from Mitchell’s actions.
“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 wrote.
After Mitchell announced her resignation, the firm released a second statement, saying: “Cleta Mitchell has informed firm management of her decision to resign from Foley & Lardner effective immediately. Ms. Mitchell concluded that her departure was in the firm’s best interests, as well as in her own personal best interests.”
New statement from @FoleyandLardner: “Cleta Mitchell has informed firm management of her decision to resign from Foley & Lardner effective immediately. Ms. Mitchell concluded that her departure was in the firm’s best interests, as well as in her own personal best interests.”
— Katelyn Polantz (@kpolantz) January 5, 2021
The Washington Examiner reached out to Mitchell’s Foley & Lardner email address for comment and did not receive a bounce-back response indicating that the account had been deactivated.
