Jenna Ellis

Jenna Lynn Ellis (born November 1, 1984) is an American conservative lawyer who was a member of Donald Trump's 2020 re-election campaign's legal team.

She is a former deputy district attorney in Weld County, Colorado.

During the Trump presidency, she presented herself as a "constitutional law attorney" during cable news appearances, though The New York Times reported that her background did not reflect such expertise and The Wall Street Journal reported that she had no history in any federal cases.

In 2003, Ellis enrolled at Cedarville University.

While there, she received a "significant financial award" from a civil case related to her being a victim of a violent crime at age 16.

She used the funds to set up a scholarship to benefit future Cedarville students.

"I wanted the money to mean something more," said Ellis.

"Starting a scholarship endowment was a way for me to heed that call to minister to others, and ultimately, further the Gospel of Christ through others' ministries."

The Jenna Lynn Ellis Award is awarded each year to a junior or senior with a minimum 3.3 GPA and who wishes to pursue a career in law, with an emphasis on criminal prosecution and victim advocacy.

In 2004, Ellis transferred to Colorado State University in order to study journalism.

In 2011, she received a Juris Doctor from the University of Richmond School of Law.

From 2012 to 2013, Ellis was a deputy district attorney in Weld County, Colorado.

As a prosecutor, she worked on traffic offense matters and other low-level misdemeanors, including assault and theft, in state courts.

Ellis was fired as deputy district attorney after six months, which she attributed to her insistence that she would not prosecute a case she thought was unethical.

Asked by The Wall Street Journal, the Weld County District Attorney's office declined to comment on the matter.

Records showed that Ellis took part in approximately 30 state court cases which began from 2012 or 2016, including one state appeals court case; this was described as a 'sparse record' by another Colorado lawyer interviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

In 2013, Ellis worked for IE Discovery in one lawsuit involving a contract dispute.

IE Discovery is a company that assists the U.S. Department of State in legal discovery matters.

Ellis later claimed to have been an "attorney for the U.S. Department of State"; she was not employed by the State Department.

Ellis was a critic of Donald Trump and his supporters in 2015 and early 2016 until he became the 2016 Republican nominee for president, at which point she began voicing support, including in media appearances.

In 2015, Ellis became an affiliate faculty member of Colorado Christian University, and later an assistant professor of legal studies, until her departure in 2018.

Ellis taught political science and pre-law to undergraduates.

She was hired by Trump in November 2019 as a senior legal adviser.

From November 2020 to January 2021, she was a member of what she characterized as an "elite strike force team" that made efforts to overturn Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election.

She made unsubstantiated claims that Trump was the actual winner of the election and drafted two memos falsely asserting that vice president Mike Pence could change the results.

In March 2023, Ellis was publicly censured by the chief disciplinary judge of the Colorado Supreme Court for recklessly making 10 public misrepresentations, which she admitted to, about the 2020 presidential election, including the claims that Trump won the election and that the election was stolen from him.

In August 2023, she and 18 others were indicted by a Fulton County grand jury in the Georgia election racketeering prosecution for allegedly participating in a criminal enterprise in furtherance of Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election.

In October 2023, Ellis pleaded guilty to one felony count of aiding and abetting false statements in writing.

Ellis was homeschooled by her parents.

Her education included a strong emphasis on civics.

She, as well as one of her brothers, worked on a U.S. Senate campaign while in high school.

She also interned for the Colorado lieutenant governor at age 14 and the Boulder County district attorney's office a few years later.

The Colorado Sun published government records in December 2020 indicating Ellis had been fired for "mistakes", including a failure to "adhere" to Colorado's Victim Rights Act.

Because the mistakes were attributed to "deficiencies in her education and experience" Ellis retained unemployment benefits.

The report stated: "The number of cases in which (Ellis) committed an irreparable, egregious act was not significant compared to the total number of cases she processed. ... There are insufficient facts (Ellis) was not performing the duties to the best of her ability."

The 2020 Trump campaign responded to The Colorado Sun on Ellis's behalf, stating that this was a "nonstory".

After leaving the DA's office, Ellis went into private practice at law firms based in Northern Colorado.

She defended clients in state courts in matters pertaining to assault, domestic abuse, prostitution, and theft.

According to Ellis, she also worked in cases regarding immigration and tenancy.

Ellis did not take part in election law cases or any federal cases before December 2020.