by Katelynn Richardson
Emails obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation show the federal agency did not reappoint a former Trump adviser to the election advisory commission after a left-wing activist group threatened to launch a public criticism campaign.
Cleta Mitchell (pictured above), lawyer Now senior lawyer at the Conservative Partnership Institute appointed to the advisory board of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) in November 2021. After months of urging U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) officials to remove Mitchell from the EAC’s board of advisors, Free Speech for the People President John Bonifaz threatened to launch a “public campaign” criticizing the agency if it does not fire Mitchell at the end of her two-year term, according to emails obtained by the DCNF through a public records request.
“I am writing as a courtesy to inform you that if by tomorrow, November 29, at 5:00 p.m. EST, we have not received notice that the USCCR has decided not to reappoint Cleta Mitchell, we plan to launch a public campaign criticizing the USCCR for this decision, including by publishing the following copy of your email dated 10/05/23, which, as you know, it is a public document,” Bonifaz wrote on November 28, 2023, to USCCR general counsel David Ganz.
“I wanted to inform you about this so that you would not be surprised if, for example, you or the Commission received calls from the media,” added Bonifaz.
Looks like the threatening email worked. The next day, Free Speech for the People, the same group behind several recent attempts to throw Trump off the ballot, famed that Mitchell would not be reappointed. In an Oct. 5 email, Ganz said Mitchell’s appointment cannot be revoked during her term, but suggested there may be alternative ways to remove her from the board after her term expires.
Responsibilities of EAC, Federal agency established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002, focused on election administration, including administering grant programs and offering guidance on the voluntary voting system, testing and certification. Her board of advisors, included consists of 35 members appointed from various agencies and organizations such as USCCR, Opinions draft guidelines and provides input to EAC commissioners.
Mitchell’s nomination has begun reaction from Democrats and left-wing groups because he is a volunteer Work for Trump’s 2020 campaign and its presence during a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call in which Trump told Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes for him to win the state.
Mitchell told DCNF that she was unaware of pressure from Free Speech for the People, although she noted that “a lot of leftist groups went berserk when I was appointed.”
“I find it ironic that a group purporting to promote ‘free speech for the people’ organized a campaign to ensure that the opinions and views of people like me were not heard,” Mitchell told DCNF.
One of the groups was Freedom of Speech for People searching to remove former President Donald Trump from the 2024 election under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, a stratagem that was recently blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court. Freedom of speech for people filed lawsuits AND he insisted election officials in various states to bar him from voting.
Trump-appointed USCCR Commissioner J. Christian Adams told DCNF he was unaware of Free Speech for the People’s efforts. He said Republican commissioners were only able to appoint Mitchell through a compromise with Democrats. The deal was that Republicans would vote to accept President Joe Biden’s pick for USCCR chairman, and Democrats would support filling the vacant seat on the EAC board with a Republican – either Adams or Mitchell.
Now that USCCR’s appointments to the EAC board have expired, he “agitated to begin the process of filling these positions.” Neither Mitchell nor Democrat nominated Law professor Jenny Carroll was reappointed after her term expired.
“And as far as I know, neither the staff nor the chair is doing anything,” Adams told DCNF.
Free speech for the people was the first to send the message letter to USCCR Chief of Staff Mauro Morales in January 2023 calling for the withdrawal of Mitchell’s nomination, stating was “deeply embroiled in disgraced former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 federal election.”
This renovated they called on Morales and the USCCR commissioners in their July letter.
After the Fulton County grand jury’s final report revealed that it had Recommended indicting Mitchell in the anti-Trump racketeering case, Bonifaz continued to push for her removal in emails. Mitchell was not charged by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Williswhose case has reached a deadlock scandal.
Quite told Boniface in October 2010. 5 e-mail that the USCCR did not have authority to “unilaterally revoke appointments to the position” or remove a current member, though he noted that the terms of current appointments expired in November 2023. In airy of this, he told Bonifaz that he had asked USCCR commissioners to “begin considering new appointments” to the board.
One agenda item dated November 1, 2023, “Invitation to the Democratic Commissioner’s Caucus,” refers to an email from Bonifaz regarding fresh nominations to the EAC board. Yvesner Zamar, special assistant to USCCR Chair Rochelle Garza, wrote that this is an issue that has “caused much consternation within the Commission and does not appear to be ending anytime soon.”
“There is uncertainty as to how the terms end automatically or transfer,” he wrote. “There are other outstanding issues, but ultimately we must decide how we will proceed. Recently, external inquiries regarding new appointments were brought to my attention as Special Assistant to the President.”
The November 7 Democrat-only call’s agenda item included an “EAC discussion” led by Vice President Victoria Nourse.
Zamar called Bonifaz shortly after the November 28 email threat to inform him that they were “working on getting people drafted” and would contact him next week. According to to the email he sent thanking me for picking up the phone.
It is unclear when exactly the decision was made not to reappoint Mitchell, although the next day an email from Bonifaz suggests that the USCCR sent a letter to the EAC regarding his threat to launch a public campaign.
“We now understand that the USCCR has sent a letter to the EAC,” he wrote on November 29. “Can you please send us a copy of this letter, or should we request it via FOIA?”
An EAC spokesman said DCNF members on the board of advisors serve two-year terms.
“USCCR has informed the EAC that it will not reappoint Ms. Mitchell for an additional term,” the spokesman said.
Mitchell said she found out the same way.
“I have just received notice that the positions of both USCCR appointees have been terminated,” she told the DCNF.
Free speech for the people brought public attention to the DCNF statement was released after Mitchell’s removal.
“The election denier Cleta Mitchell had no seat on the advisory board of the Election Assistance Commission, and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights should never have appointed her to that position,” Bonifaz said at the time. “Today’s announcement is a triumph for our democracy.”
USCCR President Rochelle Garza declined to comment. Chief of Staff Mauro Morales did not respond to DCNF’s request for comment.
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Katelynn Richardson is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Cleta Mitchell” by Who counts with Cleta Mitchell.
