Jenna Ellis, right, and Sydney Powell, attorneys for President Donald Trump, conduct a news conference at the Republican National Committee on lawsuits regarding the outcome of the 2020 presidential election on Thursday, November 19, 2020.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Former Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in Arizona in their criminal cases against so-called fake electors and others who tried to reverse the 2020 election loss of former President Donald Trump, state Attorney General Kris Mayes said Monday.
Prosecutors are dropping the nine felony counts that Ellis had faced — including fraud, forgery and conspiracy — in exchange for her cooperation against the remaining 17 defendants in the case.
“This agreement represents a significant step forward in our case,” Mayes said in a statement. “I am grateful to Ms. Ellis for her cooperation with our investigation and prosecution.”
“Her insights are invaluable and will greatly aid the State in proving its case in court,” the attorney general said. “As I stated 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 win for the rule of law.”
The remaining defendants in the case include disgraced lawyer Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who worked closely with Ellis after the 2020 election in the doomed, botched effort to undo Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden.
Also charged are former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, lawyers John Eastman, Boris Epshteyn and Christina Bobb, and Mike Roman, who had led Election Day operations for the Trump campaign in 2020.
The remaining defendants are the 11 Trump supporters accused of being fake electors: Kelli Ward, Tyler Bowyer, Nancy Cottle, Jacob Hoffman, Anthony Kern, James Lamon, Robert Montgomery, Samuel Moorhead, Lorraine Pellegrino, Gregory Safsten, and Michael Ward.
The Arizona indictment alleges that Ellis and other Trump allies were part of a scheme in which these 11 defendants claimed to be electors from Arizona to the 2020 Electoral College and cast their ballots for Trump, despite Biden having won the state’s popular vote.
Ellis posted a statement on social media platform X from her lawyers, Matt Brown and Matt Melito, after her cooperation became public.
“We are grateful the Arizona Attorney General’s Office completely dismissed the indictment against Jenna Ellis as she was not involved in the so-called ‘fake elector’ scheme,” the statement said. “Jenna was originally told she was not a target and her cooperation is her continued willingness to tell the truth.”
As part of the agreement, Ellis must testify “completely and truthfully” whenever requested by the Attorney General’s Office and be available for interviews by attorneys and law enforcement.
Ellis in October 2023 pleaded guilty to a separate criminal charge in the Georgia election interference case, which charges Trump and more than a dozen of his allies with crimes related to trying to overturn his loss to Biden in that state.
A Georgia appeals court in June put the case against Trump and eight of his co-defendants on hold while it considers Trump’s bid to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from overseeing his prosecution.
After Ellis pleaded guilty in Georgia, officials in Colorado banned Ellis from practicing law in the state for three years. Giuliani in July was disbarred in New York, and his license remains under review in Washington, D.C., as a result of the false claims of widespread ballot fraud that he made with Ellis after the 2020 election.
