Colorado-licensed attorney Jenna Ellis, indicted last week on felony charges as part of the sweeping indictment in Fulton County, Georgia against ex-President Donald Trump and his alleged conspirators in the plot to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, has been raising money for her legal defense without help from Trump. As USA TODAY reported this morning, Ellis on Friday night took a break from her pathological self-righteousness to make it clear that the lack of support from Trump while Ellis faces felony charges for her role in Trump’s coup plot is weighing on her:
At least one of Donald Trump’s co-defendants in his Georgia case over alleged attempts to steal the 2020 election is wondering why his legal defense fund isn’t helping her and others ensnared in his indictment.
“I was reliably informed Trump isn’t funding any of us who are indicted,” said former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. “Would this change if he becomes the nominee? Why then, not now?”
As readers know, Ellis is unique among the Trump coup attempt legal team in that she has already admitted to numerous false statements about the 2020 elections as part of the agreement to keep her Colorado law license. That combined with Ellis’ public defection to support Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis against Trump in the GOP primary has left Ellis with little support on either side of the Republican Party’s identity crisis. As of this morning, Ellis has raised about $88,000 for her legal defense via “crowdfunding,” an estimated small fraction of the total cost of a legal defense for this high-profile trial.
And although Ellis herself hasn’t given any indication of how she intends to resolve this looming problem, everyone else is waiting for the next logical development:
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is reportedly trying to get other defendants to testify against Trump. But there is no sign that Ellis is prepared to flip. She has criticized the Trump indictments as political in nature…
MSNBC’s Hayes Brown puts a finer point on it:
With Monday’s sprawling indictment in Fulton County, Georgia…the number of allies who could cooperate with the government has grown. And based on recent reports, it seems like the famously stingy Trump isn’t helping several of his best-known co-defendants with their own legal bills. That decision may save Trump cash in the short term, but it could very well come back to bite him in the long run. [Pols emphasis]
An important purpose of the racketeering law Ellis is charged with breaking is to motivate lesser players in a criminal conspiracy to set their loyalty aside and turn on their highers-up. In this case, Trump may be helping prosecutors immensely by weakening the bonds of that loyalty through his own small-minded treatment of his former conspirators.
Because Ellis has already admitted that Trump’s claims to have won the 2020 presidential election were false, Ellis is useless to Trump’s expected dogmatic defense of the “Big Lie” to convince jurors that Trump truly believed it–in fact, she’s a huge problem standing in the way of that defense. The trouble for Trump, whether he perceives it or not, is that by cutting her off financially Trump may be giving Ellis no choice but to testify against Trump in order to save herself. And as the only Trump attorney so far to have publicly retracted the “Big Lie” in whole or part, Ellis is the most likely to do so.
It’s up to Ellis now to realize that being Trump’s patsy has no value.
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Question: Does funding the defenses for everyone who is "a Trump Republican" include funding the defense of Carlton Huffman's sexual harassment case against Matt Schlapp?
How far does the MAGA Defense Fund umbrella extend?
I don't know how well Trump or anything directly controlled by him could fund a co-defendant's defense. Especially considering the way that arrangement was used to apply pressure and/or alter legal advice during the Jan. 6th hearings.
Apparently, he is going to have to start pounding his tin cup and asking the MAGAts to contribute to posting his bond.
Trump's bond set at $200,000 in Fulton County election interference case (msn.com)
I sense a new PAC, which will quickly
bilkraise $5 million from his followers, allowing Trump to pocket whatever portion of $4.8 million isn't whisked away by the scam-runners.We need a new word in the English language – that feeling that creeps very gradually over a person as they realize Trump's "loyalty" is only one way – toward him – and the MAGAverse is not going to save you from being a Trump sycophant. What are some good ideas for this new word?!
I thought there already was a word: Sucker
I just read this and "sucker" was exactly the word that came immediately to mind.
Well, there's no need for Ellis to be represented by an attorney. As a self-acknowledged legal expert, especially as a "constitutional lawyer," she should be more than able to represent herself pro se (even with her license to represent anyone else in limbo). I'd pay to watch her flail in trial.
Ups to Bobo for keeping that smile while sandwiched between the repulsive and no doubt foul-smelling blubber of those two G[rotesque]O[ld]P[evert] icons.
I don't think she deserves ups for that. She threw in with the most unsavory (as did Ellis). She deserves that shit.
Perhaps Ellis will realize that standing on the dock as the SS Trumptanic sails away to its fate is actually a lucky break for her. Her best bet is to cut a deal and sing like a bird.
She probably will. Her hold on her law license is tenuous, at best. She dodged a bullet with the censure, but a felony conviction will get her disbarred.
Maybe Jack Smith will offer her a misdemeanor in exchange for "truthful testimony."
Plus, it will save her a shitload of a lot of $$$ – money she doesn't currently have and likely won't be able to earn going forward. Who is going to pay money to buy her book or attend her speaking engagements, Woke liberal? MGAdonians?
I don't see any of Trump's coconspirators that grift off of their association with him (Guiliani, Eastman, Clark, Chesebro), turning against him. They will be exiled and the grift machine will be turned off. No more speaking engagements, book sales, think tank appointments, etc. They would actually have to work for a living. I expect most of them to take one for the team, do a few months behind bars and/or in home confinement, and emerge a hero (See Ollie North). I don't know where Ellis stands in that equation. She seems to have tied her fate with DeSantis, and that is a sinking ship.
If Jenna had any sense she’d make a deal but she appears to be delusional so….
I suspect she will deal, but the question is when. If I were her, I would be listening to my counsel and rushing to get a deal done. The sooner the deal, the better the deal will be. The longer she waits, the more the govt. will take off the table. Her law license is in all likelihood toast, but she's at the Rutherford Institute, which won't give a crap about that, as long as she can fundraise off the "injustice."
Interestingly, Jenna has changed her business address with Attorney Registration in Colorado in the past week. It had been the Rutherford Institute, with a Chicago address, but it's now a Denver address and her employer is JLE Law LLC.