Jenna Ellis is the latest defendant in the Georgia election subversion case to plead guilty on a felony charge related to attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
A campaign lawyer for former president Donald Trump, Ellis told the judge she felt “deep remorse” for her involvement, tearfully stating she had trusted the advice of more experienced lawyers, and if she knew what she knew now she would not have represented Trump.
Ellis was charged with violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), soliciting the violation of oath by a public officer and aiding and abetting false statements and writings. She pled guilty to one count of the latter.
Prosecutor Daysha Young said Tuesday that Ellis joined Trump attorney and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Georgian lawyer Ray Smith in making false statements to Georgia state senators, attempting to convince them that thousands of people who were deceased, under 18 or convicted felons had voted in the 2020 election in Georgia.
After attorneys Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, Ellis is the third high-profile defendant in the case to plead guilty. Bail bondsman Scott Graham Hall, a less notable defendant, pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges.
These plea deals allow the defendants to get out of possible prison time. Ellis will instead face five years on probation, 100 hours of community service and be forced to pay $5,000 in restitution. She and the other three will also be required to testify truthfully in subsequent trials, and write an apology letter to the people of Georgia.
Under Georgia’s first offender law, if the four who pleaded guilty make it through probation without violating their terms or committing any crimes, they will have clean criminal records.
Prior to the trial, Ellis was a prominent voice in conservative media promoting conspiracy theories and misinformation about the 2020 election, and was outspoken against the criminal charges, taking to social media to claim that the Democratic Party and the Fulton County DA were “criminalizing the practice of law.”
