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WASHINGTON — A third attorney who falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen from then-President Donald Trump by fraud flipped Tuesday and agreed to cooperate in the Georgia criminal case against the ex-commander-in-chief — saying she had “deep remorse” for her actions.
Jenna Ellis, 38, tearfully said she “failed” to do “due diligence” on fraud claims pushed by Trump, 77, in swing states including Georgia — where President Biden beat Trump by fewer than 12,000 votes. She joined former Trump attorneys Sidney Powell and Ken Chesebro in also pleading guilty.
“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,” Ellis told Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee in court.
“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, like Powell and Chesebro, will face no prison time in exchange for her guilty plea to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings.
“I believe in and I value election integrity,” she went on. “If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges.”
Ellis concluded through tears, “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.”
The deal endorses a sentence of five years of probation, $5,000 in restitution, and 100 hours of community service — in exchange for having no contact with the media or codefendants and cooperating and testifying at other trials in the 19-person RICO case — potentially including that of Trump.
Fulton County’s elected prosecutor Fani Willis, a Democrat, brought the case in August against Trump and 18 of his allies and supporters — using conspiracy statutes intended for organized crime. She has asked for Trump’s trial to begin March 4.
Trump attorney Steve Sadow slammed the plea deal.
“For the fourth time, Fani Willis and her prosecution team have dismissed the RICO charge in return for a plea to probation,” Sadow said, referring also to a plea deal given to pro-Trump activist Scott Hall last month.
“What that shows is this so-called RICO case is nothing more than a bargaining chip for Willis. Moreover, this plea was to a completely separate charge, not a part of the original indictment, which doesn’t even mention President Trump.”
Other codefendants in the case include former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who as an attorney for Trump helped lead the election challenges.
Trump, 77, is seeking a rematch against Biden in next year’s election and claims the case against him is political. He faces a separate federal criminal case in Washington for his efforts to reverse his 2020 defeat, a federal criminal case in Miami for allegedly mishandling national security information, and a state case in Manhattan related to 2016 hush money payments.
Trump faces up to 712 years and six months behind bars if convicted in all four cases — with 71 years and six months of that potential punishment in Georgia.
The RealClearPolitics average of recent polls shows Trump leading Biden by 0.5% in the popular vote.
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