Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis could face additional punishments from Colorado’s attorney disciplinary board after she was already censured for her role in trying to overturn the 2020 election, as officials asked a state judge Tuesday to impose additional sanctions against the lawyer in response to her pleading guilty to crimes related to the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia.
KEY FACTS
Ellis, who worked for the Trump campaign as it challenged the 2020 election results, was indicted in Fulton County, Georgia, alongside former President Donald Trump and other allies, ultimately taking a plea deal in which she pleaded guilty to one count of “aiding and abetting false statements and writings.”
Ellis was censured in Colorado before her Georgia indictment, admitting in March 2023 that statements she made after the 2020 election violated professional rules prohibiting conduct “involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.”
Four additional charges of professional misconduct were leveled against Ellis on Tuesday as a result of her guilty plea, with Colorado Attorney Regulation Counsel Jessica Yates filing a complaint against Ellis in state court.
The complaint accuses Ellis of violating rules that prohibit attorneys from being convicted of felonies, committing crimes, “engag[ing] in professional conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation” and aiding and abetting false statements.
Yates confirmed to Colorado Newsline after Ellis’ guilty plea that she was reopening the investigation into the attorney, and advocacy groups States United Democracy Center and Lawyers Defending American Democracy sent a letter to Yates after Ellis’ guilty plea that asked for disbarment proceedings against the attorney.
In a statement to Colorado Newsline, Ellis said she “thought I resolved all of this almost a year ago” and would “vigorously defend against this complaint and am confident that once all the facts are brought out, I will prevail.”
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“Through her guilty plea, Respondent has admitted to the commission of a criminal act that reflects adversely on her honesty, trustworthiness, and fitness as a lawyer,” the complaint states.
CHIEF CRITIC
In a statement to the Georgia state court after she pleaded guilty, Ellis said she “endeavored to represent my client [Trump] to the best of my ability,” but “failed to do my due diligence” by “mak[ing] sure that the facts the other lawyers alleged to be true were in fact true.” “If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post election challenges,” Ellis said. “I look back on this whole experience with deep remorse for those failures of mine.”
SURPRISING FACT
Ellis’ alleged misconduct took place in Georgia and the complaint against her cites violations of Georgia’s code of conduct for attorneys, and the attorney has said she now lives in Florida. She can still be held accountable in Colorado, where she’s licensed to practice law, however, as state rules allow attorneys licensed in the state to be punished there “regardless of where the lawyer’s conduct occurs or where the lawyer resides.”
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
The complaint against Ellis will go before a state hearing board, and Ellis will have the chance to appeal any sanctions against her to the Colorado Supreme Court. It’s unclear what sanctions could be leveled against the attorney, but possiblepunishments range from another censure to having her law license suspended or being disbarred. Yates did not speculate on what punishments Ellis could face, telling Colorado Newsline Tuesday that complaints like the one against the attorney “allege conduct that violates rules of professional conduct and which rules were violated. They do not identify the form of discipline the People will seek.”
KEY BACKGROUND
The new complaint against Ellis is part of a broader range of consequences that Trump-allied lawyers have faced in the wake of the 2020 election. In addition to Ellis, attorneys including Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, John Eastman and Jeffrey Clark were also indicted in Georgia for their roles post-election, with Chesebro and Powell also taking plea deals. Giuliani has had his law license suspended in the wake of the 2020 election and faces the threat of full disbarment, and Eastman and Clark also face ongoing disciplinary proceedings. While Texas officials’ efforts to sanction Powell were ultimately dismissed—though she and her co-counsel were separately sanctioned for a case in Michigan—States United has also sent a letter asking for new disciplinary action against her in the wake of her guilty plea. Powell and Giuliani have also faced other litigation for their post-election activities, with both facing defamation lawsuits from voting machine companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic, and Giuliani forced to pay more than $148 million for defaming Georgia election workers.
