Jenna Ellis (left) in a Fulton County Jail mug shot, (right) apologizing in court on Oct. 24, 2023, after pleading guilty (Fulton County Superior Court/YouTube)
One of Donald Trump’s former steadfast allies who has admitted to helping two co-defendants named in the expansive Georgia criminal RICO case against the former president is now being targeted by a Colorado advocacy group who wants her law license revoked.
Jenna Ellis, a member of the former president’s so-called “elite strike force” of lawyers who pushed to overturn the results of the presidential election in Georgia, should be barred from practicing law in the Centennial State, according to a letter by States United Democracy Center and Lawyers Defending American Democracy.
“We, together with the additional signatories below, write to urge the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel (OARC) to promptly commence a formal disciplinary proceeding against Jenna Ellis seeking her disbarment in light of her recent guilty plea to a felony in Georgia and to initiate an interim suspension proceeding under [Colorado law],” said the letter, sent to the Colorado Supreme Court on Friday.
The letter seeks Ellis’ interim suspension and eventual disbarment.
The letter notes that Ellis was previously censured in connection with her claims on Twitter — now X — and in the media that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and President Joe Biden’s win was not legitimate. In March, she formally acknowledged that she made “public misrepresentations in November and December 2020 in her capacity as counsel for the then-President’s reelection campaign and as personal counsel to the then-President, while also advertising her status as a lawyer,” according to a ruling from a Colorado judge at the time.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Ellis pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting fellow Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Ray Smith III in making false statements to members of the Georgia Senate. Under the plea agreement, Ellis will serve five years of probation, pay $5,000 in restitution, and serve 100 hours of community service. She must also write an apology letter to the citizens of the Peach State, and cooperate with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ prosecution of Trump and his co-defendants — at least, those who haven’t also already pleaded guilty.
Noting that Ellis pleaded guilty to a felony charge, the advocacy group says that her offenses in Georgia warrant serious discipline, in addition to the prior censure.
“The false statements at issue in Ms. Ellis’s plea are distinct from the misrepresentations underlying Ms. Ellis’s previous censure and provide a strong basis for further discipline,” the letter says. “The falsehoods for which Ms. Ellis was previously censured related mainly to her claims on Twitter and in media appearances that the 2020 election was stolen. The falsehoods involved in her Georgia felony guilty plea were allegations of fraud and misconduct by Georgia voters, election officials and workers. These allegations fueled the spread of disinformation about Georgia’s election process and election workers, undermine trust in American elections, discourage public participation in the electoral process, pose a threat to the safety and well-being of election workers and, accordingly, threaten democracy as a whole.”
The letter picked up on the fact that Ellis had “negotiated into her plea deal a statement that her crime did not involve moral turpitude,” which is often a standard used in considering disciplinary actions against lawyers and disbarment, and said that it was “of no moment.”
“The crime to which she pled guilty — one involving false statements in the context of her representation of former President Trump — unquestionably reflects adversely on her fitness to practice law,” the letter says. In a footnote, the letter notes that Ellis acknowledged at her plea hearing that “the inclusion of the moral turpitude language was intended ‘to assist her in other venues,”” including, arguably, potential disciplinary proceedings.
Ellis’ offenses, the letter says, warrant serious consequences.
“The crime to which Ms. Ellis pled guilty — intentionally aiding and abetting her co-counsel in knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully making false statements that were clearly intended to undermine public confidence in the 2020 presidential election — undoubtedly runs afoul of both prongs” of disciplinary guidelines.
“Indeed, it is difficult to imagine conduct more antithetical to the rule of law that attorneys take an oath to uphold,” the letter adds.
Other signatories to the letter include former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, and former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, a Republican, as well as several former state attorneys general and secretaries of state. Leading First Amendment scholar Erwin Chemerinsky also signed on to the request.
“The lies that Jenna Ellis helped spread about fraud and misconduct by Georgia voters and election administrators poisoned public trust in our elections, endangered election workers, and threatened our democracy,” said Gillian Feiner, Senior Counsel at the States United Democracy Center, in a news release. “Attorneys who commit crimes like this must face serious professional consequences. Ellis should be disbarred.”
Attorneys representing Ellis in Georgia did not immediately respond to Law&Crime’s request for comment.
Law&Crime’s Matt Naham contributed to this report.
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