Jenna Ellis, Former Trump Lawyer, Will Cooperate in Arizona Election Fraud Case
The New York Times
Ms. Ellis is the first of 18 defendants to reach a deal with prosecutors in a case that charges them with trying to overturn Arizona’s election results in 2020.
Jenna Ellis, a lawyer who played a major role in the efforts to keep Donald J. Trump in power after his 2020 election loss, reached a cooperation agreement on Monday as part of a deal with prosecutors leading an election interference case in Arizona.
She is the first of the 18 defendants in the case to reach such an agreement. Ms. Ellis already pleaded guilty to a felony last year in a similar case in Georgia. In Arizona, nine felony charges against her were dropped in exchange for her cooperation and an agreement to testify truthfully.
“This agreement represents a significant step forward in our case,” Kris Mayes, the Arizona attorney general, said in a statement. Referring to Ms. Ellis, she added: “Her insights are invaluable and will greatly aid the state in proving its case in court. As I stated when the initial charges were announced, I will not allow American democracy to be undermined — it is far too important.”
Ms. Ellis’s lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Democratic prosecutors in five states have brought criminal charges against Trump allies related to efforts to overturn the 2020 results, with the cases in Georgia and Arizona being the most expansive. Ms. Mayes brought charges in April, and a trial is not expected until next year at the earliest. In June, the Arizona defendants filed an initial challenge, seizing on a new state law aimed at curbing litigation and prosecutions involving political figures.
Election-interference charges have also been brought in Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada, though a judge in Nevada threw out the case there in June, saying that prosecutors had filed in the wrong venue. The state attorney general, Aaron Ford, has appealed the decision.
