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October 24, 2023, Jenna Ellis, a lawyer who worked as a senior legal advisor on Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign, pled guilty to 1 felony count of aiding and abetting false statements and writing. In pleading guilty, she admitted to a crime stemming from her efforts to spread lies about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and elsewhere.
Ellis gave a statement at her plea hearing. She said, of her role in trying to overturn the 2020 election, “I failed to do my due diligence. I believe in and I value election integrity. If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post election challenges. I look back on this whole experience with deep remorse.”
As a condition of her plea deal, she agreed to offer testimony against Trump and other defendants, if the prosecutors ask her to do so.
The decision to plead guilty is an important and surprising admission of guilt from a defendant who had previously maintained that she did nothing illegal.
Ellis was indicted for racketeering and one additional felony count in the original Fulton County election interference indictment. Ellis was charged because of her efforts to, among other things, try and pressure legislators in the Georgia General Assembly to appoint a slate of fake electors to vote for Donald Trump in the Electoral College, which would have overturnedthe will of Georgia voters. She was one of 19 defendants named in the 41-count Fulton County, Georgia election interference indictment.
She is the fourth defendant in this case to plead guilty. Fellow Trump lawyers Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro entered guilty pleas just days before Ellis, as their criminal trials were commencing. Defendant Scott Hall, an Atlanta bail bondsman, previously entered a guilty plea, based on his role in the voting machine hacking scandal that took place in Coffee County, GA.
In pleading guilty to this felony, Ellis was sentenced to 5 years probation and 100 hours of community service. She has also agreed to issue a written apology to the citizens of Georgia and pay $5,000 in restitution to the state.