Jenna Ellis rose to prominence as a Donald Trump attorney and campaign surrogate in the 2020 election, often pushing particularly outlandish conspiracy theories about that campaign. Earlier this fall, she was indicted, along with Trump and a total of 17 people, in the Georgia RICO indictment.
Now, Ellis has agreed to plead guilty in the case, joining Trump attorneys Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro. Ellis, like the other lawyers, has agreed to testify in future trials. Scott Hall, a bail bondsman who is not a lawyer, has also pled guilty in the case.
“If I knew then what I knew now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges. I look back on this experience with deep remorse,” Ellis said in court, per The Hill.
“As an attorney who is also a Christian, I take my responsibilities as a lawyer very seriously and I endeavor to be a person of sound moral and ethical character in all of my dealings,” Ellis’ statement said, CNN reported. “I relied on others, including lawyers with many more years of experience than I, to provide me with true and reliable information … what I did not do, but should have done, your honor, was to make sure that the facts the other lawyers alleged to be true were, in fact, true.”
The attorney pled guilty to a single count of aiding and abetting false statements. It’s yet another case, of many, of serving as Donald Trump’s lawyer not being worth the trouble.
Multiple Lawnerys Plead Guilty in Trump-Linked Indictment
Ellis, like the other two lawyers who have already pled out, is expected to heavily implicate another Trump attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who was also indicted in the Georgia case.
Ellis was sentenced to five years of probation, as well as community service, restitution, and an apology letter to the people of Georgia. She had been charged with both racketeering and a count of “soliciting a public officer to violate their oath.”
Ellis, a prolific social media user, is also “banned from posting anything on social media about the case while the proceedings are unfolding against any of the defendants,” CNN said.
While some of the defendants are diehard Trump loyalists, Ellis has been supportive of Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Republican primary campaign. She had earlier complained that she had not been receiving support from Trumpworld with her legal fees. After doing so, Ellis claimed to have raised more than $200,000 from donations to her legal defense efforts.
It’s not clear if Ellis will end up losing her law license as a result of her actions and the plea. And as the case is at the state level, future presidential pardons are not a consideration.
Predicted to Flip
In September, HuffPost reported that Ellis was “predicted to flip,” and had returned to her 2016-era position of believing that Trump was an “idiot” and a “bully.”
Ellis had said this fall in a radio interview that she had “great love and respect” for the ex-president, she had concluded that she “simply can’t support him for elected office again,” due to his “malignant, narcissistic tendency to simply say that he’s never done anything wrong.”
After Trump was indicted for the first time this year, in New York, Ellis had urged him to accept an offer from DeSantis to refuse to surrender in New York and accept “sanctuary” at Mar-a-Lago. This was never a serious proposal, especially since Trump is actively running for president and could not realistically remain in Florida indefinitely.
Still facing charges in Georgia are Trump himself, attorneys Jeffrey Clark and John Eastman, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and less-prominent figures such as Ray Smith III, Robert Cheeley, Michael Roman, David Shafer, Shawn Still, Stephen Lee, Harrison Floyd, Trevian Kutti, Cathleen Latham, Scott Hall, and Misty Hampton.
Author Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Stephen has authored thousands of articles over the years that focus on politics, technology, and the economy for over a decade. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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