Jenna Ellis
Supply: Fulton County Jail
Jenna Ellis, the right-wing lawyer who labored on the Trump 2020 presidential marketing campaign, pleaded responsible Tuesday to a legal cost within the Georgia election interference case.
Ellis is the most recent co-defendant of former President Donald Trump to take a take care of prosecutors, becoming a member of Sidney Powell and two others.
The slew of current plea offers in Fulton County District Legal professional Fani Willis’ racketeering case alerts a rising risk to Trump, who’s preventing legal fees in 4 separate instances as he runs for president in 2024.
Ellis, 38, pleaded responsible in Fulton County Superior Court docket to at least one rely of aiding and abetting false statements and writings. The cost associated to false claims of voter fraud that had been made to members of the Georgia Senate at a listening to in early December 2020.
In a tearful assertion earlier than Decide Scott McAfee, Ellis expressed remorse for her actions within the wake of Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden within the 2020 election.
Jenna Ellis reads an announcement after pleading responsible to a felony rely of aiding and abetting false statements and writings, inside Fulton Superior Court docket Decide Scott McAfee’s Fulton County Courtroom on the Fulton County Courthouse October 24, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia.
John Bazemore | Pool | Getty Photos
“As an lawyer who can be a Christian, I take my obligations as a lawyer very critically and I endeavor to be an individual of sound ethical and moral character in all of my dealings,” Ellis stated.
“I believed that difficult the outcomes on behalf of President Trump must be pursued in a simply and authorized manner,” she stated, however “I did not do my due diligence.”
As an alternative, she stated she relied on data that was offered to her by different attorneys “with many extra years of expertise.”
“If I knew then what I do know now, I might have declined to characterize Donald Trump in these post-election challenges,” she stated.
“I look again on this complete expertise with deep regret.”
Ellis initially confronted two felony fees in Willis’ indictment, which accuses Trump and 18 co-defendants of illegally conspiring to overturn Biden’s victory in Georgia’s 2020 contest.
The 98-page, 41-count indictment alleges Ellis urged state legislators in key swing states Biden received to nominate presidential electors who would vote for Trump.
Ellis will keep away from jail time as a part of her plea settlement. She was sentenced to 5 years of probation and should pay $5,000 in restitution, along with finishing 100 hours of group service and penning an apology letter to the folks of Georgia.
She should additionally testify in truth in any respect hearings or trials involving different co-defendants within the case, together with Trump.
The three others who’ve already pleaded responsible — Powell, ex-Trump marketing campaign lawyer Kenneth Chesebro and bail bondsman Scott Corridor — additionally agreed to offer truthful testimony of their co-defendants’ instances.
A lawyer representing Trump within the Georgia case didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s request for touch upon Ellis’ change of plea.
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