Jay Mitchell Demands Retraction of Defamatory Ad and False Statements from Robertson Campaign

BIRMINGHAM, AL—Former Supreme Court Justice and Alabama Attorney General candidate Jay Mitchell has formally demanded a retraction of the defamatory advertisement and false statements made about him by opponent Katherine Robertson and her campaign. 

The advertisement and statements falsely declare that Mitchell was a “registered foreign agent for Uzbekistan,” that he was “a lobbyist for a Muslim country,” and that he “represented a Muslim regime,” when public records and contemporaneous reporting clearly show the opposite. 

Mitchell provided pro bono legal representation to a pro-democracy opposition group called the Sunshine Coalition of Uzbekistan, when its leader—Sanjar Umarov—was wrongfully imprisoned by the brutal authoritarian government of Uzbekistan. Mitchell’s advocacy on Capitol Hill resulted in a Congressional resolution demanding humane treatment for Umarov. In a rare display of bipartisan support, that resolution passed both houses of Congress unanimously. Umarov was later released from prison and returned to his family in the United States. 

Mitchell said, “This ad and Katherine’s campaign statements are not just ‘politics as usual.’ They are bald-faced lies. I have provided irrefutable facts and evidence about the matter—both to the press and to my opponent directly—that prove her claims are false. I am calling on Katherine to do the right thing and correct the record.” 

Despite the truth being well documented and widely reported, Robertson’s campaign has continued and expanded the ad’s dissemination, having already spent at least $410,933 to broadcast it statewide.

In the attached letter to Robertson and her campaign manager, Mitchell demands an immediate retraction pursuant to Alabama law. He will continue telling the truth to Alabama voters.