Republican lawyers who advised Donald Trump on his campaign to overturn the 2020 election results are now playing a central role in coordinating Republican efforts to tighten voting laws across the country.
The move comes as Trump signaled support for a new Republican-pushed law in Georgia, which critics saw as a major blow to the voting rights of communities of color, especially black voters. Biden called Georgia’s laws “Jim Crow in the 21st century” and “an atrocity.”
But Trump, whose grip on the Republican Party is strong, welcomed Georgia’s development. Trump said in a statement by his pack, Save America, that “fraud is a factor in Biden’s election losses.” Reiterating his baseless allegations, Trump said, “Congratulations to Georgia and the Georgia state legislature for changing their voter rules and laws.” “They learned from the trevity of the 2020 presidential election, which will never happen again. Too bad these changes couldn’t have happened sooner! “
His support for the party’s Republican base and the deprivation of the right to vote – and the involvement of those close to him – reveals a possible future direction for Trump’s party as it faces a diversification of dissent in the United States. With its mostly white support.
Clata Mitchell, a longtime Republican lawyer and advocate for Rs. .
Mitchell is now making two separate efforts to combat pressure for stricter state voting laws and democratic efforts to increase the reach of the ballot at the federal level. She is also advising state legislators to propose a vote ban. And he is in regular contact with Trump.
“People are really interested in getting involved and we have to use all that power,” Mitchell said in an interview with the Associated Press. “There are many groups that have projects on electoral integrity that have never been done before.”
Trump’s false claims during and after the 2020 election have fueled a wave of new voting restrictions.
More than 250 proposed voting bans have been proposed this year, mostly by Republican lawmakers, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
On Thursday, the governor of Georgia’s GOP signed into law requiring voters to submit IDs to vote by mail, the GOP said. The controlling state gives the legislature new powers to provide food or water to local constituencies and those waiting to vote.
In response, Democrats have stepped up pressure for a huge federal election replacement bill. That proposal, known as HR1, would effectively affect the neutral state-level voter ID laws, allowing anyone to vote by mail and if they want citizens to automatically register to vote. Republicans view state control over elections as an encroachment and say it is designed to benefit Democrats.
“The left is trying to end 100 years of progress in the election administration,” Mitchell said, adding that Democrats are trying to suppress the Republican vote. “We’re watching two different movies right now.”
Mitchell’s most public involvement in the voting battles was in a partnership Trump called on Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Rafansperger on Jan. 2. During that call, Mitchell insisted he had evidence of vote fraud, but officials with the secretary of state’s office told him his data was incorrect.
Mitchell has two new roles in the Rs. It is running a 10 million initiative at Freedom Works, a limited government group, both to introduce new restrictions on voting and to help train candidates get involved in local election nuts and bolts.
He is also a senior legal ally at the Conservative Partnership, an organization run by senior Republican Senator Jim DeMint. She says she will use this role to “coordinate” the status quo, especially against HR1.
Mitchell, 70, has links to other influential players in the money laundering movement and serves as an advisor outside the American Legislative Exchange Committee, providing model law to state legislators and colluding with state legislators, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz. , On opposing HR1.
Mitchell told the Associated Press that he talks regularly with Republican state legislators about the need for a new election law. She won’t recognize who she’s talking to but said she’s been passionate for a long time.
It will similarly not give details of his conversations with Trump or say whether he is involved in a new voting battle. “I’m in frequent contact with the president,” he said of Trump.
Frequent the dits in the 2020 election did not appear to be a significant problem. Trump and his supporters have lost more than 50 court cases challenging its results.
