Jenna Ellis, who served as an attorney for former President Donald Trump, pleaded guilty to a charge filed against her following a sprawling investigation into election interference in Georgia.
Court records obtained by WSB-TV showed that Ellis pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings.
She had been charged with violating Georgia’s RICO Act and a criminal attempt to commit false statements and writings as part of an effort to keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Ellis apologized during a court appearance on Tuesday, saying that after Trump lost the 2020 presidential election in Georgia and other states, she “relied on others, including lawyers with many more years of experience than I, to provide me with true and reliable information.”
“What I did not do, but should have done, your honor, was to make sure that the facts the other lawyers alleged to be true were in fact true. In the frenetic pace of attempting to raise challenges to the election in several states, including Georgia, I failed to do my due diligence,” she said.
“I believe in and I value election integrity. If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges.”
In exchange for her guilty plea, prosecutors asked a judge to sentence Ellis to five years of probation and 100 hours of community service. She will also be required to pay $5,000 in restitution and write an apology letter to the people of Georgia under the terms of the deal. The initial charges filed against Ellis will be dropped, prosecutors said.
#BREAKING: Jenna Ellis, an attorney for former President Donald Trump, has reached a plea deal in the Georgia election interference case. https://t.co/EJ9nAK0KZc
— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) October 24, 2023
Her plea on Tuesday made Ellis the fourth person charged in the Georgia election interference case to enter a guilty plea. Last week, attorney Kenneth Chesebro pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit filing false documents. Earlier, attorney Sidney Powell and Atlanta-area bail bondsman Scott Hall pleaded guilty to charges.
Trump, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman have also been charged as part of the investigation. They have pleaded not guilty.
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