A fourth defendant in Fulton County’s prosecution of former President Donald Trump on charges of interfering in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results pleaded guilty Tuesday.
Lawyer Jenna Ellis, 38, pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writing, a felony, for her role in making false allegations of election fraud during a Dec. 3, 2020, hearing before a state Senate subcommittee.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was serving as Trump’s personal lawyer at that time, was the lead witness at that hearing. He leveled allegations of election fraud in Georgia that turned out to be false and urged senators to appoint a slate of electors who would cast Georgia’s 16 electoral votes for Trump rather than Democrat Joe Biden, who in reality had carried the Peach State in the November election.
In a statement before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee Tuesday, a tearful Ellis said she relied on other lawyers’ assertions of election fraud without exercising “due diligence” as to whether they were true or false.
“If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges,” she said.
Under the plea agreement, Ellis will serve five years of probation, pay $5,000 in restitution, perform 100 hours of community service, write an apology letter to the citizens of Georgia, and testify truthfully at future hearings and trials.
Similar provisions were included in the guilty plea former Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro entered last Friday. Another former Trump lawyer, Sidney Powell, pleaded guilty last Thursday. Atlanta bail bondsman Scott Hall entered a guilty plea last month.
The four are among 19 defendants – including Trump and Giuliani – a Fulton grand jury indicted in August under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
