Jenna Ellis is a member of President Donald Trump’s campaign legal team who is among those attorneys alleging widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
The election has been called by top news organizations in favor of now-President-elect Joe Biden, who leads Trump in both the popular vote and electoral votes. Trump has refused to concede and has launched a series of unsuccessful legal battles throughout the country, an attempt to call the results of the election into question.
Ellis’s Facebook page is filled with pictures showing Ellis with Trump. She’s been called an “evangelical advocate” by Law & Crime, which says she joined Trump’s legal team after the president saw her defend him on impeachment on cable news programs. She’s recently gained an increasingly front-and-center role in the president’s attempts to overturn the election results; he has not presented evidence of fraud widespread enough to change the election.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Ellis Is a Constitutional Law Attorney Who Is Tied to Christian Universities & News Sites
According to her biography at the Falkirk Center, Ellis “is a constitutional law attorney and Senior Legal Adviser for Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. She is a Champion at the Falkirk Center at Liberty University and former law professor at Colorado Christian University. She is a Fellow at the Centennial Institute and author of “The Legal Basis for a Moral Constitution.”
The bio continued: “Jenna is a regular on Fox News and Fox Business, contributor to Newsmax, and writes for Fox News, Washington Examiner, and Daily Wire. She is a former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney.”
What is the Falkirk Center? “The function and the moral mission of the Falkirk Center is to go on the offense in the name of Christian principles and in the name of exceptional, God-given American liberties,” its website explains.
On her LinkedIn page, Ellis lists the following positions:
Senior legal advisor to the Trump 2020 campaign from November 2019 to present.
Contributor to the Beltway Confidential Blog, Washington Examiner, 2017 to present.
Attorney at law in private practice, 2013 to present.
Director of the Dobson Policy Center, James Dobson Family Institute in Colorado Springs, 2018-2019.
Assistant Professor of Legal Studies, Colorado Christian University, 2015-2018.
Deputy District Attorney, Colorado, 2012-2013.
Contract Attorney, U.S. Department of State, 2011-2012.
Law Clerk, Colorado Attorney General’s Office, 2011.
2. Ellis Once Called Trump an ‘Idiot’
Ellis hasn’t always been a fan of Trump – by her own words. According to CNN, she joined the president’s campaign legal team a year ago. Back in early 2016, she held a negative view of him.
Ellis, who is from Colorado, called Trump an “idiot,” who was “boorish and arrogant,” and a “bully,” according to CNN. She also said that comments he made about women were “disgusting” and questioned whether he was a “real Christian,” CNN reported.
In 2016, on Facebook, CNN reported, she accused Trump of having values that were “not American” and referred to Trump as “Drumpf,” his ancestral name.
In a statement, Ellis explained to CNN, “It’s no secret that I did not support Donald Trump early in the primary process in 2015, like many others who didn’t know him, and I’ve always been straightforward with my opinions and I’ve always admitted when my opinion changes. I am glad to have learned that I was completely wrong about Trump back then and I’ve said that over and over publicly, as I saw him keeping his promises, and then eventually getting to know him personally.”
3. Ellis Made Allegations of Voter Fraud in a Much Mocked Press Conference
Trump senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis: “I have seen all of you taking pictures right now and I can anticipate what your headlines are going to be.”
Ellis appeared at a press conference on November 19 with Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani to allege widespread, but unproven voter fraud. She had harsh words for the news media at that press conference. The press conference was mocked because Giuliani suffered a mishap in which hair dye ran down his face.
“What you have heard, I’m sure, in the fake newspapers tomorrow will be one of two things. Either there was not sufficient evidence that we presented, or we spoke too long,” Ellis said. “What you’ve heard now is basically an opening statement. This is what you can expect to see when we get to court to actually have a full trial on the merit, to actually show this evidence in court and prove our case. This is not a ‘Law & Order’ episode where everything is neatly wrapped up in 60 minutes.”
She accused the media of not understanding that it takes time to gather evidence.
“This is basically an opening statement so the American people can understand what the networks have been hiding and what they refuse to cover, because all of our fake news headlines are dancing around the merits of this case and are trying to delegitimize what we are doing here,” Ellis said. “Let me be very clear that our objective is to make sure to preserve and protect election integrity.”
Ellis wrote on Facebook, “Joe Biden said today in his press conference that he wants ‘every vote to count.’ The Constitution requires every LEGAL, LEGITIMATE vote to count. Make no mistake — Democrats want fraud to count. That’s not our system. Team Trump is fighting to protect election integrity.”
Ellis has alleged in a statement posted to her Facebook page that “682,777 ballots” were “cast illegally, wittingly or unwittingly” in Pennsylvania.
She expressed thanks for an Obama-appointed judge for ruling against the campaign, saying the decision helps “us in our strategy to get expeditiously to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
4. Ellis Released a Statement Saying Sidney Powell Wasn’t on the President’s Legal Team; Some of Her Own Comments Have Caused Controversy
Sidney Powell, the former prosecutor who has been launching unverified voter machine allegations about the 2020 presidential race, is not a member of the president’s legal team, Ellis said in a statement she co-released with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Ellis and Giuliani wrote in a news release dated November 22 that “Sidney Powell is practicing law on her own. She is not a member of the Trump Legal Team. She is also not a lawyer for the President in his personal capacity.”
The statement was attributed to Ellis, Trump campaign senior legal advisor and attorney for President Trump, and Rudy Giuliani, attorney for President Trump. The headline read, “Trump Campaign Statement on Legal Team.”
The statement came just days after Powell appeared alongside Ellis and Giuliani in a November 19 press conference alleging unproven voter fraud.
In her 2015 book, The Legal Basis for a Moral Constitution, Ellis suggested that Americans “get back to being a biblically moral, upright society,” the Daily Beast reported. She also wrote that the Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality “told the LGBT community that their homosexual lifestyle was not just legal privately, but morally validated openly through government recognition and social celebration and therefore equally as valued as heterosexual unions.”
In 2016, she wrote a blog post after the Orlando mass shooting at Pulse nightclub called “Orlando aftermath – Two wrongs do not make an LGBT Right.”
She wrote, “I’m disappointed conservatives are acquiescing to the LGBT agenda. Let me be clear—the Orlando shooting was absolutely terrible and tragic. But the response to this tragedy should not be embracing and advocating for gay rights.”
5. Ellis Has a Degree in Journalism & Was the Victim of a Violent Crime as a Teenager
According to her LinkedIn page, Ellis has a law degree from the University of Richmond School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Colorado State University.
A profile on Ellis by Cedarville University discloses that at age 16, “Jenna Ellis was the victim of a violent crime. The details of the incident aren’t something she shares much. But what’s happened in her life since is one of the more inspiring stories you’ll hear anywhere.”
As a result of the situation, she decided to “use her story to further the Gospel of Christ. That path has led to a successful career as an author, lawyer and college professor. But perhaps most importantly, her path has led to forgiveness and ministry,” the article says.
It says she found a mentor in prosecutor Robert Shapiro as a result of the case, which isn’t detailed specifically.
“I have always been interested in law, but through my interactions with Rob, I was able to gain a greater appreciation and understanding of criminal law,” said Ellis to Cedarville. “The impact he had on me was so great that once my case concluded, I began to volunteer for the district attorney’s office as a victim advocate.”
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