Jenna Ellis, who served as an campaign attorney for failed former president Donald Trump and his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting false statements and writings in a Georgia court this morning. She will pay $5,000 in restitution and serve 5 years on probation for her crimes.
During her allocution in court, Ellis blamed the ex-president and Rudy Giuliani for the legal mess she currently finds herself in.
Reading a statement as her voice broke and tears in her eyes, Ellis told the court:
“Thank you, Your Honor, for the opportunity to address the court. 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.”
She added:
“In the wake of the 2020 presidential election, I believed that challenging the results on behalf of President Trump should be pursued in a just and legal way. I endeavored to represent my client to the best of my ability. I relied on others, including lawyers with many more years of experience than I to provide me with true and reliable information, especially since my role involved speaking to the media and to legislators in various states. 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. In the frenetic pace of attempting to raise challenges to the election in several states, including Georgia, I failed to do my due diligence.”
Ellis concluded, “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. For those failures of mine, Your Honor, I have taken responsibility already before the Colorado Bar who censured me, and I now take responsibility before this court and apologize to the people of Georgia. Thank you.”
The former Trump lawyer will also cooperate with Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis as she moves ahead with her racketeering case against the disgraced Trump and other defendants who have been charged with attempting to overturn the will of voters in the Peach State.
Trump is facing 91 counts of violating both federal and state laws with his actions during the 2020 election and after leaving office by illegally possessing classified document at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
