Trump Lawyer Cuts Deal in Arizona's Fake Electors Case

Agreement requires Jenna Ellis to testify against Meadows, Giuliani
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 5, 2024 4:58 PM CDT
Jenna Ellis Cooperates in Arizona's Fake Electors Case
Jenna Ellis reads a statement in Fulton Superior Court in Atlanta on Oct. 24, 2023.   (AP Photo/John Bazemore, Pool, File)

Jenna Ellis, a lawyer for Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign, has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in the Arizona election subversion case. The plea agreement Ellis signed Monday ends her own prosecution. She was facing a series of felony counts tied to the effort to install fake slates of electors to overturn Trump's election loss to Joe Biden, CNN reports. The plea deal requires her to testify against the other 17 defendants, who include Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani. "This agreement represents a significant step forward in our case," Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Ellis also decided to cooperate after being charged along with Meadows and Giuliani in the Georgia election case last year, per ABC News. She was given five years' probation and ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution. "If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges," Ellis told the court. She had entered a not guilty plea in June in the Arizona case. Trump was not charged in the case but was referred to as "Unindicted Coconspirator 1" in the original indictment. (More Arizona election case stories.)

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