Courtesy of Pam Martens
Cleta Mitchell, Law Partner at Foley & Lardner
Last Saturday, the sitting President of the United States, Donald Trump, called the Secretary of State of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, and told him this: “I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break.” The Washington Post has posted the audio of the call. That phone call has come under withering criticism as an attempt to coerce votes from a state Trump lost in the November 3 election.
Among those on the call as an apparent advisor to Trump was attorney Cleta Mitchell, who at no point suggested to Trump that what he was saying might be illegal. Mitchell is a long-time law partner at Foley & Lardner, which is now attempting to distance itself from the mess. The law firm released a statement which coyly stated: “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.” Seriously?
In reality, both Mitchell and Foley & Lardner have been variously advancing, and mopping up for front groups working to advance the agenda of the fossil fuels conglomerate, Koch Industries, for a very long time — in lockstep. Koch Industries has played an outsized role in setting the agenda for the Trump administration, so Mitchell’s presence on the Saturday phone call should not be that hard for her law firm to comprehend.
The Chairman, CEO and a major shareholder of the privately-owned Koch Industries is billionaire Charles Koch, who has spent the last 40 years using front groups to promote his anti-regulatory agenda. This labyrinthine maze of front groups and its dark money funders are frequently referred to as the Koctopus.
Cleta Mitchell has been in our radar since 2011 when we confirmed with Scott Markley, a Public Information Specialist at the U.S. Supreme Court, that Justice Clarence Thomas had been wined and dined at the private Vintage Club in Indian Wells, California by Charles Koch and his wife, Elizabeth, in 2008, the same year that the Supreme Court decided to hear the Citizens United case, which would open the flood gates to unlimited corporate money in federal elections.
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