Aug. 5 (UPI) — Donald Trump’s former campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis has reached a deal with prosecutors in Arizona’s 2020 election subversion case to testify against other defendants in exchange for her charges being dropped.
The Arizona attorney general’s office announced Monday that it was dropping nine felony charges against Ellis in exchange for her cooperation.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes called the agreement a “significant step forward.”
“I am grateful to Ms. Ellis for her cooperation with our investigation and prosecution,” Mayes said. “Her insights are invaluable and will greatly aid the state in proving its case in court.”
Ellis was originally charged and pleaded not guilty to nine felony counts in Maricopa County that included fraud, forgery and conspiracy in Arizona’s so-called fake electors case to overturn the 2020 election results.
According to a copy of her cooperation deal, released by officials in Arizona, Ellis has agreed to provide information to law enforcement and testify “completely and truthfully at any time and any place” while vowing not to “protect any person or entity” through false information or omissions. The agreement also shows Ellis sat for a recorded proffer session in June with the attorney general’s office.
Ellis was one of eighteen people indicted by Mayes’ office over alleged efforts to overturn the presidential election results in Arizona. Ellis was accused of pressuring Arizona state lawmakers to overturn the results in favor of Trump, and urging former Vice President Mike Pence to accept fake electors instead of the actual elector votes cast for President Joe Biden.
Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows were also indicted, while Trump was not charged in the case.
This is the second time Ellis has agreed to cooperate. She pleaded guilty in Georgia’s election case and was sentenced to five years probation and $5,000 in restitution.
“If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges,” Ellis told the Georgia judge in October after her guilty plea. “I look back on this whole experience with deep remorse.”