August 16, 2023 11:13 AM UTC

Lonely Jenna Ellis Faces Trial Without Trump's Help

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• by: Colorado Pols

Jenna Ellis, the former member of ex-President Donald Trump’s legal team who plotted along with alleged co-conspirators John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, faces felony counts in the indictment brought by the district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia over the effort to flip the result in that state.

Ellis, who is still listed as a fellow at Lakewood’s Colorado Christian University after she was censured this past March by Colorado attorney regulators for her many false statements about the 2020 election in her role as counsel for Trump, has since had a major falling out with Trumpworld at least in part over the admissions she made to avoid being disbarred. And as Newsweek reports, that’s about to be a very expensive complication for Ellis’ criminal defense:

Jenna Ellis, a former member of Donald Trump’s legal team who was one of 19 indicted on Monday over an alleged plot to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election result, has raised more than $10,000 in an online crowdfunding campaign for her legal fees…

Ellis has made no mention of being financially cut off by Trump due to her support for DeSantis. However, John Cardillo, a DeSantis-supporting conservative influencer, claimed she had.

…Laura Loomer, a pro-Trump commentator with more than 493,000 followers on X, also suggested “professional liar and Trump backstabber” Ellis was not receiving financial support due to her refusal to back the former president in the 2024 race.

Addressing Ellis, she wrote: “You didn’t stay loyal to President Trump, and now you’re going to learn the hard way by having to pay for your own legal fees. Next time try being loyal to the people who brought you to the dance, and you won’t have such big problems.” [Pols emphasis]

Up until Ellis’ censure in March in which she admitted to a range of false statements about the 2020 election in order to keep her Colorado law license, Ellis had reportedly tried to ride the fence between Trump and DeSantis. But as the Daily Beast reported in April, the admissions Ellis made about the 2020 election marked a definitive break with Trumpworld:

This past March, Ellis admitted in Colorado court documents that she made “misrepresentations” related to baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, including her claim that Trump “won in a landslide” and that there was a “coordinated effort” to “manipulate the ballots, to count them in secret.” She was later censured.

Seemingly from that point on, Ellis has become more vocal in speaking out against moves made by her former boss.

Especially with Ron DeSantis cratering in the polls despite Trump’s escalating legal troubles, Ellis’ real sin against Trump was popping the bubble of the “Big Lie” in order to keep her law license. Trump may not be pleased with the outcome delivered by Giuliani and Eastman, but both of them have chosen to go down fighting disbarment cases rather than make the humiliating admissions of recklessly lying on Trump’s behalf that Ellis was forced to make.

With all of this in mind, one thing we can say for sure is that Ellis’ legal defense is going to cost a lot more than the $10,000 she had raised by yesterday afternoon. Though obviously a big short-term problem for Ellis, this is where Trump’s well-known habit of screwing over his former friends and allies could come back to bite the former President–since if Ellis can’t afford to defend herself, she is that much more likely to accept a plea deal and testify against Trump and his indicted loyal attorneys.

History has already paid more attention to this failed traffic court lawyer than she deserves. But Jenna Ellis, friendless and alone, jilted by the politician who gifted Ellis her fifteen minutes of fame, also appears to have little left to lose.

Trump, on the other hand, has everything to lose. So perhaps history isn’t quite done with Ellis yet.