PHOENIX — Jenna Ellis, a campaign lawyer for former President Donald Trump and close collaborator with Rudy Giuliani, will cooperate with Arizona prosecutors in exchange for the dropping of charges against her in a voter fraud case, the state’s attorney general’s office announced Monday.
Ellis previously pleaded not guilty to fraud, forgery and conspiracy in the Arizona case. Seventeen other people charged in the case have pleaded not guilty to felony charges, including Giuliani, Trump’s presidential chief of staff Mark Meadows and 11 Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely stating that Trump won Arizona.
“Her insights are invaluable and will greatly assist the state in proving its case in court,” Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a statement. “As I said when the initial charges were announced, I will not allow American democracy to be undermined — it is far too important. Today’s announcement is a victory for the rule of law.”
Last year, Ellis was charged in Georgia after appearing with Giuliani at a December 2020 hearing hosted by Republican lawmakers at the Georgia state Capitol, where false allegations of election fraud were made. She had pleaded guilty convicted in October of one crime: complicity in making false statements and writings.
Although Ellis was not a bogus elector in Arizona, prosecutors allege he falsely claimed widespread voter fraud in the state and six other states, encouraged the Arizona legislature to change the results of the election, and encouraged then-Vice President Mike Pence to accept Arizona’s bogus electoral votes.
The indictment alleges that on Dec. 1, 2020, Ellis, Giuliani and other associates were present at a meeting in the Arizona legislature with then-House Speaker Rusty Bowers and other Republicans when Giuliani and his team asked the chairman to hold a committee hearing on the elections.
When Bowers asked for evidence of election fraud, Giuliani said he had it, but Ellis indicated it had been left in a hotel room, the complaint said. Bowers was not provided with any evidence.
Ellis is also excluded from practicing law held in Colorado for three years after pleading guilty in Georgia.
Prosecutors in Michigan, Nevada, Georgia And Wisconsin have also filed criminal charges in connection with the fake voter scheme.
Arizona Authorities revealed the felony charges in late April. In all, charges were filed against 11 Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely stating that Trump won Arizona, five lawyers with ties to the former president and two former Trump aides. President Joe Biden won Arizona with 10,457 votes.
Trump himself was not charged in the Arizona case, but was named in the indictment as an unindicted accomplice.
The 11 people claiming to be Arizona’s Republican electors gathered in Phoenix on December 14, 2020, to sign a certificate declaring that they were “duly elected and qualified” electors and that Trump had won the state. one minute video of the signing ceremony was posted on social media by the Arizona Republican Party at the time. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored.