On Tuesday, former Trump legal team member Jenna Ellis formally agreed to a plea deal with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Georgia after the local prosecutor included Ellis in a sweeping criminal case that covered attempts after the 2020 presidential election to undercut the results from Georgia.
Ellis admitted to a criminal offense identified as aiding and abetting false statements and writings, and she is not facing any time in jail, instead having been left with reportedly five years of probation. Potentially worrisome for other defendants in the case who’ve yet to take any plea deal, she also agreed — like defendants pleading guilty before her have done — to provide testimony as spurred by prosecutors. Ellis worked directly with figures including longtime Trump ally Rudy Giuliani, who’s also charged in the case, having repeatedly appeared alongside him — including in Georgia, which spurred the criminal allegations Ellis faced.
Materials comprising Ellis’ plea agreement point to false statements made during an appearance she and Giuliani conducted before state legislators in Georgia after the 2020 presidential election, though Ellis herself didn’t present testimony during the proceedings.
In that period, those state officials were the target of pressure campaigns pushing ideas like support for sham electors supporting Trump from the state despite Biden’s win there. The hearing with involvement by Ellis, Giuliani, and others featured claims like the infamous nonsense targeting election workers in Atlanta including Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, a mother and daughter who were baselessly accused of personal involvement in widespread election fraud — claimed involvement that Giuliani infamously and bizarrely compared to drug dealing.
Whether an idea of ballots stuffed in so-called suitcases or claims of pushing rightful observers out of the vote tabulation area before counting continued, contentions about Moss, Freeman, and the others present have been consistently disproved. Ellis attempted to express remorse in court Tuesday, arguing she was essentially duped by other lawyers involved in the post-election pressure operation.
