Trump Lawyer Admits Lying About Election Fraud for Personal Gain
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It has become clear that the bulk of the conservative apparatus pushing lies about a “stolen” 2020 election were well aware they weren’t telling the truth. Legal filings made public in recent weeks demonstrate that Fox News executives and hosts knew there was no evidence supporting Donald Trump’s rigged election claims, and now one of the former president’s own lawyers — who got plenty of air time on the network — has admitted that she, too, knew the idea was false as she was pushing it.
Jenna Ellis, one of the most visible members of Trump’s legal team that helped spread the Big Lie, confessed she knew it was just that as part of disciplinary proceedings in Colorado. Ellis provided a list of her misrepresentations, which mostly includes instances in which told various national news outlets that Trump won the election and that she had evidence to prove it.
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Ellis also admitted that her comments were “reckless”; that they “undermined the American publics confidence in the presidential election, violating her duty of candor to the public”; and that she had a “selfish motive” for pushing bullshit about the the election.
Jenna Ellis admitted in Colorado bar proceedings that she repeatedly misrepresented claims about the 2020 election.
She’s been censured by the state’s top disciplinary judge. https://t.co/sjUHolkCwe pic.twitter.com/YrfZ9gaeop— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 9, 2023
Ellis was censured for her conduct following the election.
The censure was first reported by Colorado Newsline, which notes that Ellis had been under scrutiny in Colorado since last year. “The public censure in this matter reinforces that even if engaged in political speech, there is a line attorneys cannot cross, particularly when they are speaking in a representative capacity,” Jessica Yates, attorney regulation counsel for the Colorado Supreme Court, said in a statement.
Ellis’ admission and subsequent censure comes as fillings made public as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit against Fox News have revealed that Rupert Murdoch, Tucker Carlson, and other prominent figures within the nation’s leading conservative news network knew there wasn’t any evidence to support Trump’s claims of fraud. They kept pushing the Big Lie, though, and just like Ellis, they did it for selfish reasons, believing it’s what their viewers wanted.
“I can’t keep defending these reporters who don’t understand our viewers and how to handle stories,” network CEO Suzanne Scott wrote in an email to network President Jay Wallace, complaining that one of the network’s reporters had fact-checked the false claim. “We need to manage this […] The audience feels like we crapped on [them] and we have damaged their trust and belief in us.”
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