Ex-Trump Attorney Jenna Ellis Hit with Three-Year Suspension of Law License: ‘I Was Wrong’

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin.

Jenna Ellis has agreed to a three-year suspension of her Colorado law license for her felony guilty plea in the Georgia election case, and urged those still clinging to the belief of a stolen election to reconsider.

Last August, a Georgia grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump and 18 others (including former New York City Mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, and several lawyers who have represented Trump and his campaign, including Ellis, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, and John Eastman) for their alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election in that state.

Former Georgia bail bondsman Scott Hall pled guilty in late September, followed by attorneys Powell and Chesebro in October, and then Ellis had her own tearful turn in court in late October for her own guilty plea.

In an apology statement that was part of her plea deal, Ellis attempted to frame her involvement as a rookie lawyer who foolishly relied on more experienced lawyers, but admitted that she had made multiple false statements, failing to “make sure that the facts the other lawyers alleged to be true were in fact true,” and “failed to do my due diligence” during the “frenetic pace” of attempting to challenge the 2020 election.

“If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges,” she continued, claiming she “look[ed] back on this whole experience with deep remorse.”

On Tuesday afternoon, a Colorado state bar disciplinary judge approved a settlement between Ellis and the Colorado’s Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel to suspend her license for three years, reported local Denver NBC affiliate 9News.

In the court’s opinion, the judge wrote that Ellis’ actions included multiple examples of “significant actual harm,” especially by how she “undermined the American public’s confidence in the presidential election process.”

The judge did take into consideration arguments by two government watchdog groups that pushed for Ellis to be disbarred – and noted that “disbarment is the presumptive action” for her misconduct – but in the end was lenient because “her criminal culpability was due to her conduct as an accessory, not as a principal.”

In a letter submitted to the court as part of the deal to let her avoid disbarment, Ellis wrote that she was “choosing to take responsibility for my actions and my association with the harm caused to the nation by the post-election activities of 2020 on behalf of then-President Donald Trump.”

“I was wrong to be involved,” she continued, and urged those who still believed the 2020 election was stolen to reconsider:

Since my involvement in the Trump Campaign’s challenges to the election results, I have learned of the bad faith dealing and outright illegality of some actors involved. For example, I did not know at the time of the Campaign’s commissioned investigation into the 2020 election results, or that the President was notified in December 2020 that he had lost. A lot of new information has come out, which I encourage the public to consider.

…The harm of my participation in the Georgia Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing is painfully evident to this day. Millions have been misled by the cynical “Stop the Steal” campaign, and otherwise responsible leaders are still publicly maintaining that these false claims have merit. The lies were repeated, thereby becoming “true” to a large segment of the populace. 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.” This faith in the integrity of our elections was damaged. That is the harm. While I do not doubt that this mindset would still prevail even if I didn’t play a part in it, I am ashamed and remorseful that I was involved to the extent that I was. Had I known then what I know now, I would not have been involved.

…I will hopefully encourage others who may still believe that the election was “stolen” to consider changing their position. Everything that has come out since has not proven that claim.

Ellis’ suspension will begin on July 2. She is also required to pay $5,000 to the Georgia secretary of state, roughly $1,700 in fines and costs to the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel, complete 100 hours of community service, and write an apology letter to the residents of Georgia for her actions.

When her suspension is up on July 2, 2027, if she wishes to reinstate her Colorado law license, the court’s order says she must first “prove by clear and convincing evidence that she has been rehabilitated, has complied with all disciplinary orders and rules, and is fit to practice law.”

Ellis was previously publicly censured in March 2023 for ten misrepresentations she made on television and on Twitter in 2020 about the election while serving as Trump’s senior legal adviser. She is currently facing criminal charges in Arizona as well, for yet another indictment related to alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.