Watchdog groups push for disbarment of ex-Trump attorney Jenna Ellis over Georgia charges

Watchdog groups called for former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis’s disbarment in a letter Friday.

“We, together with the additional signatories below, write to urge the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel (OARC) to promptly commence a formal disciplinary proceeding against Jenna Ellis seeking her disbarment in light of her recent guilty plea to a felony in Georgia,” the letter from Lawyers Defending American Democracy (LDAD) and Stand United Democracy Center reads.

The letter is addressed to Jessica Yates, attorney regulation counsel for the Colorado Supreme Court. According to the Colorado Supreme Court’s website, Yates “oversees attorney admissions, attorney registration, mandatory continuing legal and judicial education, attorney discipline and diversion, regulation against the unauthorized practice of law, and inventory counsel matters.”

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Ellis pled guilty in October to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s case regarding efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Ellis was sentenced to five years of probation and 100 hours of community service, and she had to pay $5,000 in restitution and write an apology letter to Georgia citizens.

“If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges,” a tearful Ellis told the judge at the time.

Besides the watchdog groups, other signatories included former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D), former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld (R) and multiple former state attorneys general. 

“Attorneys barred in Colorado take an oath to ’employ such means as are consistent with truth and honor,'” the letter reads. “As set forth below, through acts undertaken in late 2020, Ms. Ellis violated that oath.”