Georgia grand jury recommended charging Bradley Foundation board member Cleta Mitchell
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A special grand jury that investigated former President Donald Trump in Georgia recommended criminal charges against a powerful conservative attorney who sits on the board of the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, according to a report unsealed Friday.
The Fulton County, Georgia, special grand jury recommended charges be brought against 39 individuals — including Cleta Mitchell, a former partner with the Milwaukee-based Foley & Lardner firm and secretary of the Bradley Foundation — for their role in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia. President Joe Biden defeated Trump by about 11,000 votes in Georgia.
In August, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who had the ultimate charging authority, eventually indicted 19 people, including Trump, alleging a conspiracy to subvert the election results. They have all pleaded not guilty.
Mitchell was not among those charged.
On Friday, a judge ordered the release of the special grand jury’s report, a highly unusual step. The report also recommended criminal charges against U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, and former U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, Republicans from Georgia. None of them were indicted by Willis.
The report recommended nine criminal counts against Mitchell for allegedly influencing a witness’s testimony, making false statements, soliciting election fraud and interfering with election duties.
Mitchell did not return calls Friday. Officials with the Bradley Foundation also weren't immediately available for comment.
Last year, Mitchell resigned as an attorney with Foley & Lardner after top executives with the firm expressed concern that she had joined Trump on a January 2021 phone call aimed at overturning the results of the Georgia presidential election.
By contrast, the Bradley Foundation, which has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into building the national conservative political infrastructure, said it cannot be involved in politics because it's a nonprofit.
"We do not comment on our directors, and it certainly would not be appropriate for us to discuss a director's clients or legal practice," the foundation said.
Mitchell, who is now based in North Carolina, has represented a number of right-wing and GOP groups, including the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Rifle Association and the American Legislative Exchange Council.
The report said several of the recommended charges against Mitchell were for participating in the 2021 phone call in which Trump directed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find enough votes to help Trump win. The Washington Post first reported on the conversation.
Other recommended charges had to do with her involvement in the December 2020 gathering of 16 Republicans at the Georgia Capitol during which they signed documents and falsely claimed that Trump had won the Georgia election.
The final recommended count involved Mitchell's role in the national effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, with a focus on Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.
Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Georgia grand jury recommended charging Bradley Foundation director
