(C) Colorado Newsline This story was originally published by Colorado Newsline and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . What you didn't know about the Jenna Ellis case, and what it means • Colorado Newsline [1] ['Quentin Young', 'Clay Wirestone', 'Max Mccoy', 'Kaylin Klie', 'More From Author', 'May', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline'] Date: 2024-05-30 Attorney Jenna Ellis once again was disciplined for professional misconduct this week. Colorado authorities could have disbarred Ellis, who helped former President Donald Trump spread false information after the 2020 election, and the three-year law license suspension imposed on her as part of a plea agreement does not appear commensurate with the harm she helped inflict. Even she admits election falsehoods caused millions of Americans to lose faith in the integrity of elections. But court documents obtained by Newsline give a detailed view of discussions between Colorado officials and Ellis, and they indicate factors that might have helped shape the terms of discipline. The documents, which chart Ellis’ journey from a “stop the steal” conspiracist to remorseful Trump antagonist, also put into relief the danger of persistent election denial by her former associates. The Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel, which investigates allegations of lawyer misconduct, concluded its first case against Ellis last year, when Presiding Disciplinary Judge Bryon M. Large, who handles lawyer discipline cases in Colorado, agreed to censure Ellis for 10 “misrepresentations” she made when she worked alongside another former Trump attorney, Rudy Giuliani, as Trump tried to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 win. Officials with the counsel’s office brought a second round of misconduct allegations against Ellis in January after she pleaded guilty to a count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings in a Fulton County, Georgia, case over Trump’s allegedly criminal attempt to remain in power. Those allegations resulted in the three-year suspension that was announced this week. In both cases, harsher discipline might have been expected, and disbarment was contemplated as a possible sanction by Ellis herself during the second investigation. But twice she escaped the worst outcome. Court documents reveal that attorneys representing the state during the first case had in fact identified 52 false statements by Ellis about the election — not just 10. Ellis defended those statements generally as “opinion, commentary, and argument protected by the First Amendment.” In December 2022, Ellis’ lawyer at the time, Michael Melito, informed state attorneys that she was under investigation by a grand jury in Georgia, well before her involvement in that case was publicly known. This appears to have been an important factor, because it meant that Ellis, to avoid incriminating herself, would restrict what she would say to the Colorado investigators. Court documents also reveal that Ellis gave statements to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team, which is prosecuting Trump in a federal election interference criminal case. There is one factor that appears to have weighed in her favor: remorse. What role Ellis’ status as a defendant in Georgia played in her censure agreement, or why state attorneys dropped 42 alleged false statements from the investigation, is not clear. Asked to explain this week, Jessica Yates, who heads the counsel’s office, said the office “does not comment on the internal rationale for its stipulation decisions.” Oddly, a similar complication arose in this year’s investigation. Ellis informed state attorneys that she had been communicating with the Arizona attorney general’s office as part of an investigation into a 2020 fake elector scheme. According to Colorado court documents, she claimed that Arizona prosecutors told her she was not a target of the investigation, but then on April 23 she was informed that she would be indicted in the case. Her lawyer said she was “double crossed.” What did that mean for the Colorado investigation? Once again, she worried about incriminating herself, this time in Arizona, by speaking with Colorado investigators, court documents show. What this factor meant for the new set of discipline terms is, again, unknown. But there is one factor that appears to have weighed in her favor: remorse. Ellis is among several of Trump’s big-lie attorneys who have faced professional repercussions, including Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman. But she is alone in denouncing Trump, disavowing previous election falsehoods and, at least to some degree, showing contrition. State attorneys this week noted that Ellis “expressed remorse and has recognized the harm caused by her misconduct … and has taken significant, concrete steps to mitigate the harm her misconduct has caused.” During a deposition with Colorado investigators earlier this month, Ellis said, according to a transcript, “I had been very willing to cooperate with the Department of Justice, was very willing to cooperate with Arizona attorney general, and everywhere that I could, including with you here to the extent that my attorney advises me that I can.” Later she added, “I’m not aware of anyone else on the Trump team who has either taken responsibility or has repudiated Trump himself and the campaign and the efforts to the extent that I have.” Eastman still publicly says the 2020 election was stolen. So does Giuliani. Trump, of course, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, still says it all the time. Most distressingly, one-third of American adults say they think President Joe Biden’s win was illegitimate. A boundless campaign of lies is poised to erase democracy in America. Ellis is partly to blame for this, and history will remember her grave misdeeds. Her remorse might be insincere, the outcome of forced-hand calculations, and the scale of her misconduct seemed to warrant, at least, disbarment. But in comparison to her former colleagues, she has returned from election-lie derangement. Think of how different the national conversion would be if other election deniers had taken — or were coerced down — a similar path, not just lawyers like Giuliani and Eastman, but also big-lie all stars like Mike Lindell, Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon and their ilk. A broad repudiation of Trump by former enablers could have sunk his political aspirations. But all we have is Ellis. And how did MAGA repay her? She tells us in court documents: “I have received death threats and other threats of a disgusting, obscene nature, so my reputation with that group is not so positive.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://coloradonewsline.com/2024/05/30/what-you-didnt-know-about-the-jenna-ellis-case/ Published and (C) by Colorado Newsline Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/coloradonewsline/