Jenna Ellis, a former attorney for Donald Trump’s reelection campaign and a prominent conservative media figure, has been reprimanded by Colorado law enforcement officials after she admitted to repeatedly making false statements about the 2020 presidential election.
Ellis admitted to making 10 “misrepresentations” on television and Twitter during Trump’s fight to stay in power after losing the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, according to criticism from the Colorado law firm where Ellis is from. Statements include claiming on Jeanine Pirro’s December 5, 2020 Fox News show that “we have over 500,000 votes[in Arizona]that were cast illegally,” and telling conservative network Newsmax on December 15, that Trump “the true and right” is the winner.”
On November 20, 2020, Ellis appeared on former Trump spokesman Sean Spicer’s Newsmax show and said, “Taking all of these states together (Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia), we know that the election of President Trump and us stolen can prove that.”
Ellis was one of several prominent conservative voices to repeat Trump’s lies that the election was stolen from him in the final weeks of 2020. These untruths helped fuel the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“The defendant’s conduct has undermined the American public’s confidence in the presidential election and violated its duty of public disclosure,” wrote Bryon M. Large, the disciplinary judge in the case.
Ellis becomes the latest pro-Trump lawyer to be punished for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Nine Michigan attorneys in 2021 were ordered to pay $175,000 in penalties for a sham lawsuit attempting to overturn the election in that swing state. The disciplinary attorney for the District of Columbia Bar in December requested a suspension of former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s license to practice law for pursuing a baseless lawsuit against Biden’s Pennsylvania win.
Ellis is based in Washington, DC but is a Colorado native and has practiced in that state. Through her attorney, Michael Melito, she settled both the findings that she had made false statements and the censure.
Speaking on Twitter on Wednesday, Ellis said: “This was politically motivated from the start by Democrats and Never Trumpers. They ultimately failed to destroy me and failed in their attempt to revoke my license to practice law. I’m glad to have this behind me and remain in good standing in the state of Colorado.”
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