Republican attorney on Trump’s call to Georgia officials resigns from law firm

A Republican election lawyer who was present during President Donald Trump’s extraordinary telephone call on Saturday in which he pressed Georgia officials to “find” enough votes to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s win in the state has resigned from the law firm where she worked for nearly two decades.

The lawyer, Cleta Mitchell, 70, left her partnership position at Milwaukee-based Foley & Lardner one day after the firm issued an unusual public statement expressing concern about Mitchell’s role in the call, in which Trump importuned Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to decertify the state’s election results.

“Cleta Mitchell has informed firm management of her decision to resign from Foley & Lardner effective immediately,” a firm spokesman said on Tuesday. “Ms. Mitchell concluded that her departure was in the firm’s best interests, as well as in her own personal best interests. We thank her for her contributions to the firm and wish her well.”

Foley & Lardner said on Monday that lawyers there were surprised by Mitchell’s involvement in the Trump call because the firm had decided not to represent candidates in any post-election litigation.

“Our policy did allow our attorneys to participate in observing election recounts and similar actions on a voluntary basis in their individual capacity as private citizens so long as they did not act as legal advisers,” the firm said in a statement. “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.”

Mitchell did not respond to messages seeking comment.

In recent years, Mitchell has maintained a practice representing candidates and campaigns in the conservative and populist wings of the Republican Party, including figures such as former Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell of Delaware.

Mitchell served as a Democrat in the Oklahoma House in the 1970s and 1980s before dropping her party affiliation with the Democrats and eventually signing up as a Republican.

Meanwhile, a federal judge on Tuesday ruled against a Trump-filed lawsuit that Trump officials have said prompted the Saturday phone call that Mitchell was present for involving Trump and Georgia officials.

After a 90-minute hearing in Atlanta on Tuesday morning, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Cohen denied Trump’s bid to decertify the Georgia election results. In a written order issued a few hours later, Cohen said the case — filed on New Year’s Eve — came too late. The judge, an appointee of President Barack Obama, also criticized Trump for seeking to derail a challenge he’s already pursuing in state court.

“Plaintiff offers no authority to support a federal court hijacking a pending state election contest case under any circumstances, and certainly not when the failure to expedite was the result of Plaintiff’s own actions,” Cohen wrote.

“To interfere with the result of an election that has already concluded and has been audited and certified on multiple occasions would be unprecedented and harm the public in countless ways,” the judge added in his 28-page decision. “Granting injunctive relief here would breed confusion, undermine the public’s trust in the election, and potentially disenfranchise of millions of Georgia voters.”

An attorney for President Trump’s campaign, Jerome M. Marcus, filed a motion Thursday to withdraw his services from a Pennsylvania lawsuit, joining the growing list of Trump staff and advisers to leave their posts after the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Marcus cited the Pennsylvania Rule of Professional Conduct for his basis of removal from the lawsuit and said Trump had "used the lawyer’s services to perpetrate a crime" in promoting the violent protests that occurred Wednesday.

BIDEN SAYS CAPITOL WAS STORMED BY ‘RIOTOUS MOB,' 'DOMESTIC TERRORISTS’

The Pennsylvania attorney represented the Trump campaign in a federal case immediately after the election against the Philadelphia County Board of Elections, which sought to prove that Republican poll watchers were not granted access by county officials.

Although Marcus later conceded to U.S. District Court Judge Paul Diamond that the Trump campaign in fact had "a nonzero number of people in the room," meaning that poll watchers had access, according to the Washington Post.

Before denying Trump’s request to stop the count, Diamond asked, "I’m sorry, then what’s your problem?"

The case has not advanced since early November.

Marcus called Trump’s actions Wednesday "repugnant." He was not alone in condemning the president for stoking anger and inciting violence through his repeated claims of a fraudulent election -- several White House staffers and high-level officials abruptly resigned.

"I can’t stay here," Mick Mulvaney, special envoy to Northern Ireland and President Trump's former chief of staff, told NBC. He resigned with just 13 days left in Trump's presidency.

He was joined by Trump’s deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger and Ryan Tully, the senior director for European and Russian Affairs at the U.S National Security Council.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews, East Wing Chief of Staff Stephanie Grisham, and Social Secretary Rickie Niceta were among the first to submit their resignations Wednesday.

Several White House officials cited Trump’s conduct during the mob attack that forced lawmakers to hide in secure shelters, offices, and the upper level in the House chamber as the basis for their resignation.

Trump waited nearly an hour before telling rioters that had broken into the Capitol to "remain peaceful," and he continued to attack Vice President Mike Pence while he was led away to shelter to protect him from pro-Trump supporters who attempted to stop the certification of the Electoral College results.

Posted by bronxcheer on 12/7/2020 10:39:00 AM (view original):

Sidney Powell's Michigan 'Kraken' Suit Slammed by Federal Judge

0-9 in Michigan

1-42 in America

Rudy Ghouliani is a victim of the Orange Super Spreader

Posted by contrarian23 on 1/10/2021 1:10:00 PM (view original):
More great news...looks like Parler is done. Kicked off Google and Apple app stores, and about to lose their webhosting through Amazon.

The Supreme Court rejected requests to speedily hear a number of challenges to the 2020 presidential election brought by President Trump and others.

In a series of orders issued Monday morning, the court said it would not expedite consideration of whether it will ultimately hear the cases, which included challenges of the election results in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona and Georgia.

"The motions of petitioners to expedite consideration of the petitions for writs of certiorari are denied," the Supreme Court said regarding each one.

The move will effectively prevent the issue being considered for full review by the high court before President-elect Joe Biden takes office next week.

TRUMP ATTORNEY OVERSEEING PENNSYLVANIA LAWSUIT QUITS AFTER 'REPUGNANT' CAPITOL RIOTS

One case was a Michigan lawsuit in which attorney Sidney Powell, on behalf of Republican electors, alleged "unlawful counting of hundreds of thousands of illegal, ineligible, duplicate or purely fictitious ballots." This was one of several cases Powell referred to as the "Kraken," which were all rejected by lower courts.

In the Michigan case, U.S. District Court Judge Linda Parker said that because the election had already taken place and its results had been certified, it was too late to grant the injunction Powell sought, which would have included blocking state officials from sending the election results to the Electoral College and an order to send certified results that named President Trump as the winner.

Marc Elias, an attorney on President-elect Joe Biden's legal team, said that Monday was a "bad day for the Kraken" and a "good day for democracy."

Trump has told staff not to pay Rudy Giuliani over irritation at being impeached again

President Donald Trump, irritated at being impeached for a second time, has told people to stop paying Rudy Giuliani's legal fees, a person familiar with the matter tells CNN, though aides were not clear if the President was serious about his instructions given he's lashing out at nearly everyone after the day's events.

Trump became the first president in US history to be impeached twice on Wednesday, one week after a mob stormed the US Capitol following a speech by the President that excoriated his supporters to fight against the counting of the electoral votes that would affirm President-elect Joe Biden's win. The insurrection left five people dead, including one Capitol Police officer, and has left the nation's capital and state capitols around the country preparing for potential violence as Biden is set to be inaugurated next week.

Trump has been blaming his longtime personal attorney and many others for the predicament he now finds himself in, though he has not accepted any responsibility in public or in private, people familiar with his reaction told CNN. Giuliani is still expected to play a role in Trump's impeachment defense but has been left out of most conversations thus far.

Another source of Trump's ire is House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who incensed Trump further on Wednesday by saying he bears responsibility for last week's riot. The President had already been upset with McCarthy after the California Republican left the option of censuring Trump on the table in a letter to colleagues earlier this week.

The details about Giuliani's legal fees were first reported by the Washington Post.

The President is now more isolated than ever. Several of his Cabinet secretaries -- the ones who haven't resigned in protest -- are avoiding him, his relationship with the vice president remains fractured and several of his senior staffers are scheduled to depart their posts this week.

One White House adviser told CNN that "everybody's angry at everyone" inside the White House, with the President being upset because he thinks people aren't defending him enough.

"He's in self-pity mode," the source said, with Trump complaining he's been under siege for five years and he views this latest impeachment as a continuation of that.

Trumps A Team:

Powell: Being sued by Dominion for everything she's worth

Rudy: Not Paid, and going to be Disbarred by NY

Lin Wood: Kicked out and Being Sued by former Law Partners.

Eastman: Run like Heck

An associate of Rudy Giuliani told a former CIA officer a presidential pardon was “going to cost $2m”, the New York Times reported on Sunday in the latest bombshell to break across the last, chaotic days of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Related: Trumpists on top? President exits having cleaved the Republican party in two

The report detailed widespread and in some cases lucrative lobbying involving people seeking a pardon as Trump’s time in office winds down. The 45th president, impeached twice, will leave power on Wednesday with the inauguration of Joe Biden.

The former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who was jailed in 2012 for leaking the identity of an operative involved in torture, told the Times he laughed at the remark from the associate of Giuliani, the former New York mayor who as Trump’s personal attorney is reportedly a possible pardon recipient himself.

“Two million bucks – are you out of your mind?” Kiriakou reportedly said. “Even if I had two million bucks, I wouldn’t spend it to recover a $700,000 pension.”

An associate of Kiriakou reported the conversation to the FBI, the Times said.

Meant to reward offenders who show contrition, presidential pardons do not imply innocence. Presidents often use them to reward allies but Trump has taken the practice to extremes.

Among recent recipients of pardons or acts of clemency are Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with Russia; the political dirty trickster Roger Stone, who did not turn on Trump during the Russia investigation in which he was convicted of obstructing Congress; Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager convicted in the Russia investigation; and Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner who was convicted of tax fraud and witness retaliation.

The Times report detailed an “ad hoc” White House system for approving pardons which it said was run by the younger Kushner, bypassing the usual “intensive justice department review process intended to identify and vet the most deserving recipients from among thousands of clemency applications”.