Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced on Monday that Jenna Ellis, Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign attorney charged in Arizona as part of the fake electors scheme, has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for getting her charges dismissed. Ellis is one of several former and current key aides to former President Trump who were charged in the case, including Rudy Giuliani, former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Trump attorney John Eastman. All pleaded not guilty. Trump himself was not charged in the case.
AG Mayes shared a legal agreement that shows Ellis agreed to sit for interviews and turn over documents related to the scheme. The agreement also calls on Ellis to “testify completely and truthfully at any time and any place requested by the Arizona attorney general’s office”. Ellis signed the cooperation agreement Monday morning, according to the announcement, which said prosecutors are dropping the charges against her: “This agreement represents a significant step forward in our case. I am grateful to Ms. Ellis for her cooperation with our investigation and prosecution. Her insights are invaluable and will greatly aid the state in proving its case in court.”
One month after the 2020 election, 11 Trump supporters convened at the Arizona GOP’s headquarters in Phoenix to sign a certificate claiming to be Arizona’s 11 electors to the Electoral College, though Biden won the state by 10,457 votes and state officials certified his electors. The state Republican Party documented the signing of the certificate in a social media post and sent it to Congress and the National Archives. Those accused of being “fake electors” and the others alleged to have been accomplices are charged with fraud, forgery, and conspiracy.
Ellis was also one of four defendants to take plea deals in the Georgia election interference case, in which Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty last year to charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in that state. Ellis pleaded guilty in Georgia to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings in that state’s election subversion case, and resulted in five years’ probation, a fine and community service in exchange for cooperating with prosecutors.In addition to Ellis, Georgia defendants Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell and Scott Hall also took cooperation deals in that case.
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