Former Trump allies testify against him
Washington — Jenna Ellis, who served as a legal adviser to former President Donald Trump during the 2020 election, is barred from practicing law in the state of Colorado for three years, according to an agreement reached with state legal regulators.
Under the deal approved Tuesday by a presiding disciplinary judge of the Colorado Supreme Court, Ellis’ suspension of her law license takes effect July 2. The disciplinary proceedings stemmed from Ellis’ indictment in Fulton County, Georgia, for her alleged role in a scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state. She, Trump and 17 others were initially charged in the sprawling racketeering case brought by Fulton County prosecutors last August.
Ellis pleaded guilty in October to a single felony charge of aiding and abetting false statements and writing in violation of Georgia law and was sentenced to five years probation. The charge was connected to false statements about the election made by then-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and another Trump campaign attorney before a Georgia Senate subcommittee in December 2020.
A Colorado native, Ellis faced disbarment in the state and had been censured in March 2023 as a result of baseless claims she made about the integrity of the 2020 election while serving as a legal adviser to Trump and his campaign. The former president and his allies had falsely claimed that the election was rigged against him, though there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
The stipulation entered into by Colorado’s Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel and Ellis noted that while “disbarment is the presumptive sanction” for her misconduct, “it is significant that her criminal culpability was due to her conduct as an accessory, not as a principal.”
In a letter dated May 22 that was written by Ellis as part of the stipulation, she said she wanted to express “deep remorse” for her conduct surrounding the 2020 election and was “wrong to be involved” in activities that spread baseless claims that the last presidential contest was rife with voter fraud.
“I admit that I was overly zealous in believing the ‘facts’ being peddled to support the challenge, which were manufactured and false,” Ellis wrote. “Had I done my duty in investigating these alleged facts before promoting them as the truth, I do not believe I would be here. I turned a blind eye to the possibility that senior lawyers for the Trump Campaign were embracing claims they knew or should have known were false. I just went along with it. I was wrong.”
She said that millions of Americans have been “misled” by what she said was the “cynical” campaign to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
“For democracy to function and thrive, the people have to believe that their votes count and that the electoral system is fair. This is what ‘election integrity’ should mean, rather than what it has become for many: a political statement of ‘loyalty,'” Ellis wrote. “This faith in the integrity of our elections was damaged. That is the harm.”
She said she “gratefully accepts” the three-year suspension for practicing law in the state of Colorado and reiterated her regret for becoming involved in spreading false claims about the election.
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Melissa Quinn is a politics reporter for CBSNews.com. She has written for outlets including the Washington Examiner, Daily Signal and Alexandria Times. Melissa covers U.S. politics, with a focus on the Supreme Court and federal courts.
