Why 'likely star witness' Jenna Ellis’ 2020 election testimony could 'hit Trump hard': legal experts

Three of the co-defendants who have flipped on former President Donald Trump in Fulton County, Georgia Fani Willis' election inference case are attorneys who represented Trump in 2020: Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro and, most recently, Jenna Ellis. Having entered a "guilty" plea in an Atlanta courtroom, Ellis will serve probation but avoid prison. And as part of the plea deal, she must fully cooperate with Willis' office.

In an essay/op-ed published by the New York Times on October 29, Norm Eisen and criminal defense attorney Amy Lee Copland lay out some reasons why Ellis could prove to be one of the most damaging witnesses against Trump.

"Ms. Ellis admitted that the allegations of election fraud she peddled as an advocate for the effort to overturn the 2020 election were false," Eisen and Copland explain. "Two other plea deals, from Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, have been important, but Ms. Ellis is in a unique position to aid prosecutors in the Georgia case and possibly even the parallel federal one — as well as Mr. Trump's opponents in the court of public opinion. Ms. Ellis pleaded guilty to a felony count of aiding and abetting the false statements made by co-defendants, including Rudy Giuliani, to the Georgia Senate about supposed voting fraud in the 2020 presidential election."

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The attorneys continue, "These included that '10,315 or more dead people voted' in Georgia, 'at least 96,000 mail-in ballots were counted' erroneously and '2506 felons voted illegally.' These lies were at the cutting edge of Mr. Trump's assault on the election. Both the state and federal criminal prosecutions allege that Mr. Trump and his co-conspirators knowingly deployed falsehoods like these in their schemes to overturn the election."

Eisen and Copland stress that Ellis is now a "likely star witness" against Trump," noting that her "likely trial testimony" will "hit Mr. Trump hard."

According to the attorneys, "It also builds on substantial other evidence against the former president, which includes voluminous witness testimony collected by the House January 6 Committee indicating that many advisers told him the election was not stolen — and that in private he repeatedly admitted as much."

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Norman Eisen and Amy Lee Copland's full New York Times essay/op-ed is available at his link (subscription required).