Another crack widens in the Trump wall of silence and loyalty

Ellis with lawyer in Georgia after guilty plea: AP photo

Serial plea-copper Jenna Ellis has agreed to plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors in yet another fake elector case, this one in Arizona.  She previously filed a guilty plea and cooperated in the racketeering case in Georgia in which Donald Trump is a co-defendant.  Ellis played a major role in advising Trump during his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, right up until the day he left office in 2021. 

In Georgia, Ellis pled guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings, a felony.  Two other Trump attorneys, Sidney “Kraken” Powell, and Kenneth Chesebro, who was one of the architects of the fake elector scheme, also pled guilty in the Georgia case.  Colorado suspended Ellis’ law license in May as a result of her guilty plea in Georgia.  The Colorado bar also accused her of making multiple “misrepresentations” about Trump’s efforts to overturn the election during television interviews and on social media.  The suspension of Ellis’ law license began on July 2, leaving her with no way to earn a living from the practice of law.

The Arizona case also charges eleven Republican Party officials who met at party headquarters in Phoenix and signed fake certificates saying they were legitimate electors for Donald Trump.  The certificates were sent to the National Archives, along with the real elector certificates for Joe Biden, and were used by Republicans on January 6 to justify challenging the count and certification of electoral ballots that declared Biden the winner of the 2020 election.

Ellis will be able to testify about her role in the fake elector scheme in Arizona and her meetings with other Trump lawyers in the planning and carrying out of the scheme.  Ellis told prosecutors in Georgia that Donald Trump did not plan “under any circumstances” to leave the presidency after he lost the election in 2020, according to a video deposition obtained by ABC News.  Ellis described a conversation she had with former White House aide Dan Scavino on December 19, 2020: “He said, ‘The boss is not going to leave under any circumstances. We are just going to stay in power.’  And I said to him, ‘Well, it doesn’t quite work that way, you realize.’ And he said, ‘We don’t care.’”  Presumably, Ellis will be providing the same testimony regarding her access to White House planning for the fake elector scheme to prosecutors in Arizona.

Donald Trump has famously prized loyalty by his followers and aides above all else.  The Washington Post reported on Saturday that half of the department secretaries who served in Trump’s cabinet have said they are not supporting his candidacy for president.  Of the 44 former cabinet officials under Trump, only four have said that they endorse him and will vote for him in November.

The cracks in the wall of loyalty and silence around Donald Trump are getting wider and deeper, never a good sign for him with just 90 days until the election.