33 Facts About Cleta Mitchell

Cleta B Deatherage Mitchell is an American lawyer, former politician, and Republican elections activist.

Cleta Mitchell was born as Cleta Deatherage on September 16,1950, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Cleta Mitchell attended Classen High School her junior and senior year.

In 1971, Cleta Mitchell was one of the five original conveners of the Oklahoma Women's Political Caucus.

Cleta Mitchell considered US Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine her role model.

Cleta Mitchell was one of the first women to run for student president at the University of Oklahoma, but lost the election.

Cleta Mitchell served as a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1976 to 1984, as member of the Democratic Party.

Cleta Mitchell served on the executive committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Cleta Mitchell was a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics in 1981.

Cleta Mitchell returned to politics and ran unsuccessfully for Oklahoma lieutenant governor in 1986.

Cleta Mitchell was co-counsel for the petitioners in the US Supreme Court case US Term Limits, Inc v Thornton, in which the Court held that the federal Constitution precluded state governments from imposing term limits for federal office.

In 1996, Cleta Mitchell switched her political affiliation from Democratic to independent, and then to Republican.

Cleta Mitchell resigned in January 2021 due to legal concerns about her involvement in the call Trump made to attempt the reversal of the Georgia's certified votes in the 2020 United States presidential election.

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

Cleta Mitchell has been a leading critic of the IRS, accusing the agency of targeting Tea Party groups.

Cleta Mitchell testified before Congress in 2014, asserting that "the commissioner of the IRS lied to Congress".

Cleta Mitchell has represented Tea Party Republican candidates Sharron Angle of Nevada and Alaska's Joe Miller.

Cleta Mitchell's name was included in a list of people that Democrats on the US House Intelligence Committee sought to interview in connection with the committee's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Cleta Mitchell was the trustee of EPA administrator Scott Pruitt's legal defense fund.

Cleta Mitchell was a staunch opponent of public health measures implemented at the state and local levels to halt the spread of COVID-19.

Cleta Mitchell has served as legal counsel for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the National Rifle Association of America.

Cleta Mitchell is on the boards of numerous conservative organizations, including the Bradley Foundation which has given $6.5 million to Project Veritas, the National Rifle Association, and the Republican National Lawyers Association, of which she is a former president.

Cleta Mitchell is chair of the conservative activist group Public Interest Legal Foundation, which is known for making claims of voter fraud.

Cleta Mitchell has claimed that Democrats engage in a "very well-planned-out assault" on election systems.

The firm said that Cleta Mitchell "concluded that her departure was in the firm's best interests, as well as in her own personal best interests".

Cleta Mitchell blamed her resignation on a purported "massive pressure campaign" allegedly launched by leftist groups on social media.

Cleta Mitchell set up an escrow fund to funnel money to companies conducting a pro-Trump "audit" into the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County, Arizona.

From November 2021 until November 2023, Cleta Mitchell served on the Board of Advisors of the federal Election Assistance Commission.

Cleta Mitchell was nominated by Republican-appointed members of the Commission and approved by a majority vote.

The Conservative Partnership Institute, a right-wing think tank formed by Jim DeMint, helped to create the Election Integrity Network project, an effort spearheaded by Cleta Mitchell beginning in 2021.

Cleta Mitchell hosts a podcast called "Who's Counting", and is a major lobbyist against state participation in Electronic Registration Information Center, which allows states to compare voter rolls to prevent double-voting.

In 1984, Cleta Deatherage married Dale Mitchell, who was the son of 1940s and 1950s All-Star Cleveland Indians and Brooklyn Dodgers left-fielder Dale Mitchell.

Cleta Mitchell was ordered to pay $3 million in restitution, given a suspended sentence of five years, and ordered to perform community service.