When Donald Trump was indicted in Fulton County, Georgia, it was a dramatic development, but the former president was one of many people charged in the election interference case. In fact, Trump was one of 19 co-defendants.
Initially, everyone charged pleaded not guilty, though as we’ve discussed, many observers suspected that some would soon take plea deals. Those observers, we now know, were correct.
A local bail bondsman named Scott Hall helped get the ball rolling, pleading guilty nearly a month ago. Sidney Powell was next, pleading guilty last week, and she was joined a day later by another attorney from Team Trump, Kenneth Chesebro who pleaded guilty on Friday.
The trio has become a quartet. Jenna Ellis has pleaded guilty. NBC News reported:
Ellis pleaded guilty in court to aiding and abetting false statements and writings. The conditions of the plea agreement require that she serve five years of probation, pay $5,000 of restitution to the Georgia secretary of state within 30 days, and testify at hearings in the case.
The report added that the attorney is also now required to complete 100 hours of community service and write an apology letter to the citizens of the state of Georgia. Just as notably, Ellis “also agreed to provide any requested documents or evidence.”
Note, aiding and abetting false statements and writings is a felony.
“If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges,” the lawyer said in court as part of today’s proceedings. “I look back on this full experience with deep remorse.”
For the former president, this represents the latest in a series of discouraging developments. Indeed, every time a defendant pleads guilty and agrees to cooperate with prosecutors, the legal jeopardy for the former president intensifies.
But it’s also worth appreciating the unusual trajectory of Ellis’ relationship with Trump. Circling back to our earlier coverage, as recently as the 2016 campaign, Ellis repeatedly described the then-candidate as an “idiot,” adding that she considered him an “unethical, corrupt, lying, criminal, dirtbag.” Ellis even took aim at Trump’s supporters, saying they didn’t care about “facts or logic.”
She later changed her mind. In fact, despite her rhetorical record, Ellis actually joined Trump’s legal team, becoming a rather enthusiastic proponent, not only of her client’s lies about his 2020 defeat, but also of radical tactics that would allow the then-president to remain in office despite the election results.
More recently, Ellis changed her mind again, declaring last month that she couldn’t support her former client’s 2024 candidacy. “Why I have chosen to distance is because of that frankly malignant narcissistic tendency to simply say that he’s never done anything wrong,” the lawyer said on a conservative radio program.
