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Former Trump attorney’s guilty plea opens a new chapter amid changing political alliances and pending courtroom drama.
A former senior legal adviser to Donald Trump, Jenna Ellis, pleaded guilty to a felony — aiding and abetting false statements — in a Fulton County, Ga., court Tuesday. The admission comes in the wake of indictments against other Trump-affiliated attorneys, Sydney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, who also pleaded guilty in Georgia last week, dodging jail by flipping on the former president.
Ellis, Powell, Chesebro, and 17 other co-defendants, including Trump himself, were indicted for conspiring to defraud Georgians of a free and fair election.
The courtroom saw Ellis with a smug smile on her face for most of the hearing, shedding tears only as she stood to address the court. With a solemn tone, she admitted, “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’s guilty plea now requires her to testify truthfully against other Georgia defendants. This came after she raised more than $215,000 online for her legal defense when it became clear that Trump would not be footing the bill.
Post-Trump presidency, Ellis transitioned into a conservative pundit, media commentator, and social media influencer, gaining traction for her vehemently anti-LGBTQ+ stances and rhetoric, often intertwined with her evangelical Christian faith. Yet her plea agreement imposes a silence concerning the case or any individuals involved, marking a hiatus in her media commentary.
In March, about U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten Buttigieg, and their family, Ellis wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that they weren't an actual family because Pete and Chasten are two men. She called the two "sexual perverts."
“This isn’t a family. It’s two sexual perverts and a child that deserves an actual family: a mom and a dad. Children’s rights matter. Kids are not commodities,” Ellis tweeted to her more than 950,000 followers.
Ellis’s political loyalties have shifted as well. She has parted ways with Trump’s MAGA world, now supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in his 2024 GOP presidential nomination bid.
Addressing the court, Ellis stated, “I believed that challenging the results on behalf of President Trump should be pursued in a just and legal way. I endeavored to represent my client to the best of my ability.” Yet, reflecting on her past actions, she added, “I relied on others, including lawyers with many more years of experience than I, to provide me with true and reliable information.”
She expressed her remorse, saying, “If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges.”
Her plea entails a five-year probation term, a $5,000 restitution payment to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, 100 hours of community service, and a no-contact order with the media, co-defendants, or witnesses.
“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,” Ellis declared.
Watch the Fulton County Court hearing below.
State v. Jenna Lynn Elliswww.youtube.com
