PHOENIX (AP) — Jenna Ellis, a campaign lawyer for former President Donald Trump who worked closely with Rudy Giuliani, will cooperate with Arizona prosecutors in a rigged voter case that will be dismissed, the state attorney general’s office announced Monday.
Ellis previously pleaded not guilty to fraud, forgery and conspiracy charges in the Arizona case. Seventeen other people charged in the case have pleaded not guilty to felony charges, including Giuliani, Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows and 11 Republicans who submitted documents to Congress falsely declaring Trump’s victory in Arizona.
“Her insight will be invaluable and will help the state prove its case in court,” Attorney General Chris Mace said in a statement. “As I said when the initial indictments were announced, I will not allow American democracy to be undermined. It is so important. Today’s announcement is a triumph for the rule of law.”
Last year, Ellis was indicted in Georgia after she appeared with Giuliani at a hearing hosted by state Republicans at the Georgia Statehouse in December 2020, where she made false claims of election fraud. She pleaded guilty in October to felony charges of aiding and abetting false statements and writing.
Prosecutors say Ellis was not a fraudulent elector in Arizona, but he falsely claimed widespread election fraud in the state, committed six other counts of fraud, encouraged the Arizona Legislature to change the election results and encouraged then-Vice President Mike Pence to accept Arizona’s fraudulent electors.
The indictment says Ellis, Giuliani and other associates were meeting with then-House Speaker Rusty Bowers and other Republicans at the Arizona Capitol on Dec. 1, 2020, when Giuliani and his team asked the speaker to hold a committee hearing on elections.
When Bowers asked Giuliani for evidence of election fraud, the indictment states, Giuliani said he had the evidence but that Ellis had left it in his hotel room. Bowers was not provided with the evidence.
Ellis was banned from practicing law in Colorado for three years after pleading guilty in Georgia.
Prosecutors in Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin have also filed criminal charges in connection with the fake Electoral College scheme.
Arizona officials unsealed the felony charges in late April. In total, the charges were filed against 11 Republicans, five lawyers associated with the former president, and two former Trump aides who filed documents to Congress falsely declaring Trump had won Arizona. President Joe Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes.
Trump himself was not charged in the Arizona case, but he is named in the indictment as an unindicted co-conspirator.
Eleven people claiming to be Arizona Republican electors met in Phoenix on December 14, 2020, and signed a certificate stating that they were “duly elected and qualified” electors, and that Trump won the state. At the time, the Arizona Republican Party posted a minute-long video of the signing ceremony on social media. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, but was ignored.
