George Will once aptly described Cleta Mitchell as "arguably the most important Washington conservative not in public office." Sixteen years later, that assessment rings truer than ever. Mitchell remains a central, unyielding force in the brutal battle to preserve our Republic, her resolve as "armed and zealous" as the day Will spoke those words. But this unwavering commitment has made her a prime target. For passionately advocating for secure and transparent elections, Mitchell has endured relentless harassment, threats from a virulent radical Left bent on silencing political enemies, and vitriol from an accomplice media that acts as the Democratic Party's public relations arm. She's even been targeted by her own government for the "crime" of advising and befriending President Donald Trump.
The left's hatred for Mitchell is palpable, evidenced by their labeling her a "voter suppression group" leader, an "election denier," an "extremist," and even a "traitor." But their fury isn't born of truth; it's born of her undeniable success. "That’s exactly why ProPublica and the others are attacking me, because we are so effective. That’s what they hate about us," Mitchell recently stated, calling out the left-wing propaganda machine, ProPublica, for its hit pieces on conservative leaders. She rightly anticipates another attack is imminent.
The legacy press — ever dutiful to their progressive masters — eviscerated Mitchell for daring to call the 2020 election what it was: a rigged mess riddled with sweeping irregularities and violations of election law, all conveniently excused under the shroud of COVID. Anyone who questioned the integrity of that contest was immediately branded an "election denier" by the accomplice media.
Mitchell has faced a relentless public trial since being falsely accused of nefarious acts related to the "infamous call" of January 2, 2021. In that conversation, President Trump merely urged Georgia's feckless Republican Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to investigate suspected voter fraud in deep-blue cities. Nearly six years on, the corrupt corporate media continue their willful misrepresentation of that call's context, conveniently ignoring the fact that it was illegally recorded by Raffensperger's own deputy.
This politically weaponized prosecution, led by corrupt Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, swept up Trump and 18 allies in a racketeering witch hunt. While the charges against Mitchell were ultimately dropped – a testament to her innocence – the process itself was the punishment. Reputations were savaged, careers disrupted. Mitchell, though never indicted, was dragged through the coals simply for doing her job and representing a client the left despises. As Annette Olson, CEO of the conservative John K. MacIver Institute, remarked, "Imagine yourself being a target for doing your job and representing your client, a client that people hate. That’s why they’re attacking her, not that she did anything wrong." Olson, a survivor of Wisconsin's unconstitutional John Doe investigations, recognizes the playbook: a template for the left's current lawfare against Trump and his allies. Yet, as always, Mitchell rises above the noise, ever ready for the next fight.
Mitchell's dedication to election integrity isn't new; it dates back to her time in the Oklahoma House of Representatives in the late 1970s and early 80s. After years in private practice, she stepped onto the national stage in 1991, leading litigation on congressional term limits and co-counseling in a defining 1995 Supreme Court case. She became the indispensable campaign finance and election law attorney for Republicans, serving as legal counsel for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee. When Cleta Mitchell talks, America First politicians listen.
In 2021, amidst the Biden administration's weaponization of government against Trump allies, Mitchell launched the Election Integrity Network (EIN). Its vital mission: to build a permanent infrastructure of citizen volunteers nationwide, dedicated to developing election laws, policies, and procedures that guarantee transparency, accuracy, integrity, and accountability in our elections. The 501(c)(3) aims to restore confidence in U.S. elections, confidence severely battered in the 2020 presidential contest. Hundreds of volunteers, from Maine to Alaska, are actively exposing dirty voter rolls, advocating for crucial election law reforms, and diligently monitoring polls in America's most problematic election jurisdictions.
This year alone, EIN has delivered two critical resources: the Model Election Laws Handbook, which champions 10 principles for free and fair elections, including voter ID and citizen verification, and the Toolkit for Protecting Vulnerable Voters. This toolkit clarifies Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rules, explicitly prohibiting nursing home staff from interfering with, coercing, or improperly influencing resident voting.
Predictably, the election integrity deniers went ballistic, baselessly accusing the Trump administration of "intimidation." Apparently, reminding CMS-funded care facilities to follow the law is now considered intimidation by the radical left.
But the left has little fondness for laws they deem inconvenient. The same holds true for their accomplice media reporters. Mitchell recounted the deliberate chaos of the 2022 midterm elections in Democrat-run Harris County, Texas. There, the clerk brazenly ignored state law, and a district court shamefully disregarded enforcement, extending voting hours far beyond legal limits amidst another ballot mess. When a reporter tried to justify this lawlessness, claiming adherence would "disenfranchise" a hypothetical 2 a.m. voter, Mitchell offered a dose of common sense: "Did you miss the part about the statute?"
The answer, she explains, is simple: these complicit media clowns and Democrats deliberately mislabel laws designed to prevent cheating as "voter suppression laws." "They want to cheat. There’s no other excuse. There’s no other reason," Mitchell declares, cutting through the obfuscation.
And so, the usual suspects in the leftist "legacy" press continue their relentless assault on Mitchell and the Election Integrity Network. They parrot untenable narratives like "noncitizens voting is a nonissue" and insist that counting ballots long after Election Day doesn't invite fraud.
One only needs to look at New Jersey, home to thousands of noncitizens on its voter rolls, or California, where a woman was charged with paying homeless individuals to register to vote, and another registered her dog to cast ballots. Los Angeles, we now know, has "no independent way to verify citizenship beyond what voters attest." The evidence of vulnerability and fraud is overwhelming, yet the left denies it.
Election law expert Hans von Spakovsky affirms that Mitchell and the election integrity movement face relentless attacks precisely because they repeatedly expose and embarrass the election integrity deniers. "That’s the reason they are so upset, because all of the claims they’ve made for years we are showing are false," von Spakovsky stated. One of the biggest lies peddled by leftist "voter rights" groups is that voter ID laws suppress turnout. This is patently false. A 2021 study in The Quarterly Journal of Economics definitively found that strict voter ID laws "have no negative effect on registration or turnout, overall or for any group defined by race, gender, age, or party affiliation."
Democrats have obstructed every attempt in the House and Senate to pass the common-sense SAVE America Act, which mandates voter ID and requires documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration. This measure is supported by the vast majority of Americans, yet spinally challenged RINO senators and the radical left continually block it. Mitchell and her network have been instrumental in pushing this vital legislation forward, even holding weak Republicans accountable. They vehemently demand accountability for fraudsters and election law violators—a demand the Trump Department of Justice has begun to answer.
When CBS News' absurdly biased 60 Minutes and Democrat Party stooge Leslie Stahl accused the Trump administration of "breeding an erosion of faith in the integrity of our elections" by investigating fraud, von Spakovsky rightly countered: "When folks actually see successful prosecutions and see that election officials, law enforcement and others are actually investigating and prosecuting when crimes are committed, that actually increases confidence."
The Election Integrity Network's impact is particularly evident in battleground states. In Michigan, Patrice Johnson and her Pure Integrity Michigan Elections (PIME) have become a formidable force against arguably the nation's worst Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson. This Democrat elections chief, despite an egregious resume of election law violations and overreach, shamelessly seeks Michigan’s governorship. Johnson describes Mitchell as a "remarkable patriot who sees things with a clear-eyed vision," and Olson adds that after all the lies and attacks, Mitchell is "getting even by having this Election Integrity Network talking to people across the nation, talking about how important election integrity is, and that’s rightfully ours, the voters."
These election integrity warriors understand the dire stakes of upcoming elections. Should the Democrats seize control of the House, their agenda will extend far beyond merely obstructing Trump; they will unleash their newfound power against all political enemies. We know this because they have openly declared it.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., brazenly announced her intent to pursue "signature cases" against those who "enabled" Trump, aiming to send a "deterrence message" to young people considering working for a conservative administration. "I want them to be like, ‘Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don’t want, and so let me avoid participating in that,'" Slotkin shamelessly stated. A University of Chicago student, Michael Bicksel, has commendably filed an ethics complaint against the senator for these threats.
As The Federalist previously exposed, the left-wing legal apparatus is meticulously laying the groundwork for war against election-integrity advocates the moment they secure a more compliant Congress. The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) has been tracking this sinister playbook. "Liberals are preparing for payback, assuming the political winds shift in their favor," warned PILF’s research director Logan Churchwell.
Just last week, Mitchell advised members of her network to review their insurance policies, preparing for the inevitable legal battles ahead. ProPublica and the rest of the accomplice media will undoubtedly cheer on the Democrats' bloodlust, fueling the fires of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Mitchell and her impactful Election Integrity Network will be among their first targets. "They want to lock us all up," Mitchell stated with chilling clarity, before adding, "What they really want to do is kill us." This stark warning underscores the brutal reality of the battle for America's future, a fight in which patriots like Cleta Mitchell stand as courageous bulwarks against the radical left's relentless assault on freedom and truth.
