Jenna Ellis plea deal prompted by Chesebro, Powell pleas, attorney says

An attorney for Jenna Ellis said her recent plea deal was prompted by the pleas of her fellow defendants Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro.

“I think what really accelerated it was Powell and Chesebro falling as they did, one right after the other,” Frank Hogue said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It looked like timing was of the essence for us.”

Ellis became the third former Trump campaign attorney to enter into a plea agreement with prosecutors last week in the Georgia case related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Powell and Chesebro pleaded guilty the week before. 

“If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges,” Ellis told a judge last week. 

Ellis, who pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings, was sentenced to five years of probation and 100 hours of community service. She was also ordered to write an apology letter to Georgia citizens, which she read during the plea hearing, and pay $5,000 in restitution.

Hogue said in the same interview that former New York City Mayor and Trump ally Rudy Giuliani (R) should be worried about the charges he faces, but those concerns should have nothing to do with Ellis.

“I think there’s enough for Mayor Giuliani to worry about that wouldn’t have anything to do with Jenna Ellis,” Hogue told the AJC. “I mean, she wouldn’t be a help to him, I don’t think, if she was to be called as a witness. But I think his troubles extend far beyond her.”