Jenna Ellis, a former attorney for the Trump campaign in the 2020 presidential election, expressed regret on Tuesday in Fulton County Superior Court after pleading guilty to making false statements about widespread voting fraud at a Georgia legislative hearing held several weeks after the Nov. 3, 2020, election.
Ellis was sentenced to five years probation, ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution and perform 100 hours of community service after pleading guilty to one felony count of aiding and abetting false statements in writing.
On Tuesday, Ellis became the fourth defendant to plead guilty to charges in the election interference case that alleges that former President Donald Trump, several of his personal and campaign attorneys, and other Trump allies were involved in an illegal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election victory of Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
Fulton prosecutors on Tuesday referenced the Dec. 3, 2020, Georgia Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing in which Ellis was joined by Trump campaign attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Ray Smith where they made false statements claiming that nearly 100,000 fraudulent ballots were counted in Georgia, that 2,506 convicted felons voted illegally, and over 66,000 underage Georgians cast ballots in the 2020 election.
Prosecutors on Tuesday said that the false voting fraud claims were an attempt by the Trump campaign to convince the Georgia General Assembly to ignore the legitimate election certification process and declare Trump the rightful winner based on the votes from a false slate of GOP electors.
Ellis apologized for representing the Trump campaign in the push to persuade state lawmakers in Georgia and several other states with flawed legal arguments to contest the results of the election.
“I relied on others, including lawyers with many more years of experience than me, to provide me with true and reliable information, especially since my role involved speaking to the media and to legislators in various states,” the tearful 38-year-old Colorado attorney said.
“In the frenetic pace of attempting to raise challenges to the election in several states, including Georgia, I failed to do my due diligence,” she said. “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.”
Ellis was sentenced under Georgia’s First Offender Act, which allows her to seal the conviction from court records if she successfully completes the terms of probation and fully cooperates with prosecutors. Ellis is now required to turn over all evidence related to the case and to truthfully testify as a state’s witness in the trials of the remaining co-defendants.
Last week, two of Ellis’ co-defendants’ attorneys, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, entered guilty pleas just ahead of their joint trial. Scott Hall, a bail bondsman in Atlanta, was also sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge for his involvement in the Coffee County voting system breach following the 2020 election.
