Trump Former Legal Advisor Jenna Ellis Pleads to Felony in GA Case
Posted on Wed Oct 25, 2023 at 10:43:09 PM EST
Tags: Jenna Ellis (all tags)
Ellis was a leading voice in the Trump campaign’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, appearing frequently on television and conservative media to tell lies about widespread fraud that did not occur and spread misinformation and conspiracy theories.
More about the Georgia plea below. But first, Ellis also holds a Colorado law license. In March, 2023, she was publicly ensured by the Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel for promoting falsehoods about the validity of the 2020 election results. [More...]
The AP reports that after the public censure, she wrote on her twitter account:
They ultimately failed to destroy me and failed in their attempt to deprive me of my bar license. I’m glad to have this behind me and remain in good standing in the State of Colorado.”
Now that she's pleaded guilty to a felony, which she is obligated to report to the Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel, further disciplinary action could be taken against her, including disbarment. She now lives in Florida, but being disbarred in Colorado would likely prevent her from getting a law license anywhere else.
From the Colorado Supreme Court's public notice of censure:
Jenna Ellis has been publicly censured through a stipulation to attorney discipline agreed to by the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel and approved by the Presiding Disciplinary Judge. Through the stipulation, Ms. Ellis agreed that she violated Colo. RPC 8.4©, which prohibits reckless, knowing, or intentional misrepresentations by attorneys. She violated this rule when, as counsel to then President Trump and the Trump campaign, she made a number of public statements about the November 2020 presidential election that were false. ... (my emphasis).
The public censure in this matter reinforces that even if engaged in political speech, there is a line attorneys cannot cross, particularly when they are speaking in a representative capacity.
Here are her Stipulation and the Disciplinary Judge's opinion . These are the 10 false statements she admits she made about Trump winning the election. (Jenna is the Respondent)
- On November 13, 2020, Respondent claimed that “Hillary Clinton still has not conceded the 2016 election.”
- On November 20, 2020, Respondent appeared on Mornings with Maria on Fox Business and stated: “We have affidavits from witnesses, we have voter intimidation, we have the ballots that were manipulated, we have all kinds of statistics that show that this was a coordinated effort in all of these states to transfer votes either from Trump to Biden, to manipulate the ballots, to count them in secret . . .”
- On November 20, 2020, Respondent appeared on Spicer & Co. and stated, “with all those states [Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia] combined we know that the election was stolen from President Trump and we can prove that.”
- On November 21, 2020, Respondent stated on Twitter under her handle @JennaEllisEsq., “ . . . SECOND, we will present testimonial and other evidence IN COURT to show how this election was STOLEN!”
- On November 23, 2020, Respondent appeared on The Ari Melber Show on MSNBC and stated, “The election was stolen and Trump won by a landslide.”
- On November 30, 2020, Respondent appeared on Mornings with Maria on Fox Business and stated, “President Trump is right that there was widespread fraud in this election, we have at least six states that were corrupted, if not more, through their voting systems. . . We know that President Trump won in a landslide.” She also stated, “The outcome of this election is actually fraudulent it's wrong, and we understand than when we subtract all the illegal ballots, you can see that President Trump actually won in a landslide.”
- On December 3, 2020, Respondent appeared on Mornings with Maria on Fox Business and stated, “The outcome of this election is actually fraudulent it's wrong, and we understand than when we subtract all the illegal ballots, you can see that President Trump actually won in a landslide.”
- On December 5, 2020, Respondent appeared on Justice with Judge Jeanine on Fox News and stated, "We have over 500,000 votes [in Arizona] that were cast illegally . . .”
- On December 15, 2020, Respondent appeared on Greg Kelly Reports on Newsmax and stated, “The proper and true victor, which is Donald Trump...”
- On December 22, 2020, Respondent stated on Twitter, through her handle @JennaEllisEsq, “I spent an hour with @DanCaplis for an in-depth discussion about President @realDonaldTrump's fight for election integrity, the overwhelming evidence proving this was stolen, and why fact-finding and truth—not politics—matters!”
The Disciplinary Judge finds:
Respondent made these misrepresentations on Twitter and on various television programs, including Fox Business, MSNBC, Fox News, and Newsmax. The parties agree that by making these misrepresentations, Respondent violated Colo. RPC 8.4©, which provides that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.
As to what she admitted in the Georgia case, Axxios has a transcript of yesterday's hearing. These are the Stipulated Facts:
On December 3rd of 2020, the defendant did appear before a meeting of a Georgia Senate Judiciary Subcommittee in Fulton County, Georgia, with co defendants William Rudolph Lewis Giuliani, Ray Sterling Smith III, and other individuals associated with Donald J. Trump for President Incorporated, also known as the Trump campaign. During the subcommittee meeting, Giuliani and Smith, acting as attorneys for the Trump campaign, made the following false statements. One, that at least 96,600 mail-in ballots were counted in the November 3rd, 2020 presidential election in Georgia, despite there being no record of those ballots having been returned to a county election office.
Two, that 2,506 felons voted illegally in the November 3rd, 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Three, that 66,248 underage people illegally registered to vote before their 17th birthday prior to the November 3rd, 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Four, that at least 2,423 people voted in the November 3rd, 2020 presidential election in Georgia who were not listed as registered to vote. Five, that 1,043 people voted in the November 3rd 2020 presidential election in Georgia who had illegally registered to vote using a post office box. Six, that 10,315 or more dead people voted in the November 3rd 2020 presidential election in Georgia. And seven, that Fulton County election workers at State Farm Arena ordered a poll watcher and members of the media to leave the tabulation area on the night of November 3rd, 2020 and continue to operate after ordering everyone to leave.
The false statements were within the jurisdiction of the Georgia Secretary of State and the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, who were each conducting investigations into allegations of fraud in the November 3rd, 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Once completed, these and others, investigations, are firmly, affirmatively determined that there was no widespread fraud that could have affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
The false statements were made with reckless disregard of the truth and with conspicuous purpose to avoid learning the truth. The defendant attended and abetted Giuliani, Smith in making these false statements by assisting with the execution of the December 3rd, 2020 Senate Judiciary Committee meeting that was held in Fulton County, Georgia. The false statements were used as part of a plan by the Trump campaign to solicit the Georgia General Assembly to disregard the certified results of the presidential election in this state and instead to unlawfully appoint non elected presidential electors in violation of their oath to the Georgia constitution and to the United States constitution.
Similarly, false statements and solicitations were made to state legislators in Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and the defendant was present and assisted with the execution of those meetings. And she was in attendance with Giuliani in Arizona and Michigan and Pennsylvania. That would be the factual basis in which the state would have proceeded on your honor.
Ellis also has agreed to cooperate against any co-defendants. She could do some major damage to Giuliani. And she can't post about the case on social media until all the co-defendants have resolved their cases.
Trump can deny she was ever his lawyer, but that's likely not going to fly when her Colorado Stipulation says:
Respondent made ten public misrepresentations in November and December 2020 in her capacity as counsel for the then-President’s reelection campaign and as personal counsel to the then-President, while also advertising her status as a lawyer. (Emphasis supplied)
So, will the Colorado Regulatory Counsel disbar her now that she has a felony conviction for aiding and abetting false writings and statements? The New York Times reports one group is preparing a new complaint against her based on yesterday's plea and sentence:
“We do plan to file a new complaint in Colorado based on the guilty plea, so that the bar can assess the matter in light of her criminal conduct,” said Michael Teter, managing director of the 65 Project, a bipartisan legal watchdog group.
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