Plea Deals in Georgia Case Signal an Erosion of Loyalty to Trump

Former President Donald Trump lost another legal compatriot Tuesday, as former lawyer Jenna Ellis delivered a tearful mea culpa in a Georgia courtroom, pleading guilty to her participation in attempting to overturn the 2020 election and strengthening the case against Trump and other remaining codefendants.

But for Trump, Ellis’ plea was especially damaging, since it underscored the steady evaporation of something Trump has demanded from staff and associates since his days as a New York businessman: loyalty.

Two of Trump’s other ex-lawyers, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, took guilty pleas last week in Georgia’s Fulton County, delivering terse “yes” and “no” answers when they were asked if they understood they would have to pay fines for their crimes and testify truthfully at trial of the other defendants.

But Ellis was personal, openly rejecting Trump and weeping as she told the court she was sorry ever to have gotten involved in the elections affair.

“I failed to do my due diligence. I believe in and I value election integrity,” Ellis said.

“If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges. I look back on this whole experience with deep remorse,” she added in an apology letter she read aloud. Powell and Chesebro were also ordered to write letters of apology to the people of Georgia, but they did not read any such letters in court.

Ellis was given five years’ probation, 100 hours of community service and ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution for conviction on a single count of “aiding and abetting false statements and writings.”

Ellis’ emotional plea represents another crack in a wall of defense Trump has used for decades – the demands for loyalty from private sector and government aides and appointees alike. Even as Trump has faced increasing legal peril, he had strong support from his fervent voter base and elected officials worried about alienating him or his supporters.

But as associations with Trump start to become more of a liability than an asset for some, the loyalty has crumbled.

“It may be that the loyalty that was either sincerely felt by some in the former president’s orbit, or maybe influenced through threats and intimidation … is melting away to a certain degree,” David Becker, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research, said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday.

The three former Trump lawyers who pleaded guilty in Georgia were facing some serious potential consequences, he noted, including not just time behind bars but the loss of their law licenses – and that may take priority over honoring Trump’s demands for loyalty.

“You’re going to see self-interest operate here,” Becker said.

The same theme was playing out in New York City and Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

On Capitol Hill, Republicans agreed to nominate for speaker Rep. Tom Emmer, a Minnesota lawmaker who voted to certify the 2020 election for President Joe Biden and who has had a frosty relationship with Trump. That selection follows the public rejection of a close Trump ally, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, for the job, with Jordan getting less support on each successive ballot.

Emmer’s ultimate election on the floor was far from assured, but the open refusal to accept Trump’s favored pick – even after some lawmakers received threats – was a sign that a critical mass of Republicans felt that sticking with Team Trump would hurt more than help them ahead of high-stakes 2024 elections that will determined which party controls the House.

Hours after Ellis expressed her regret over her work for Trump, another former Trump attorney, Michael Cohen, was delivering a similar message in New York City.

Cohen, a longtime fixer of Trump messes, had repudiated his former employer in 2018, after Cohen was sentenced to jail time for crimes related to his representation of Trump.

But Cohen’s appearance at a New York fraud trial – the first time the two are known to have been face to face in a room since 2018 – was more personal, since Cohen was there to offer testimony undermining Trump’s self-described image as a master businessman.

“This is not about Donald Trump vs. Michael Cohen,” Cohen said as he entered the New York courtroom. “This is about accountability, plain and simple.”

Trump, outside the courtroom, called Cohen a “liar.”

“He’s trying to get a better deal for himself, but it’s not going to work,” Trump told reporters, despite the fact that Cohen has already served his jail time and is not under indictment.

Trump has continued to maintain solid support in GOP primary polls, with his devoted supporters seeing him as the victim of a political attack. But with his former allies jumping ship – and at the same time providing what could be very damaging testimony against Trump – the former president could be in political as well as legal trouble, experts say.

“The greatest peril to Trump comes as independents and even some Republicans come to see him as being guilty,” said Norman Eisen, who served as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment proceedings and trial of Trump in 2019 to 2020.

“So there’s some political impact when your alleged co-conspirators start pleading guilty. You saw Donald Trump try to walk away from Sidney Powell – despite documentary evidence that he had called her his lawyer. That’s a token of that legal and political arrow.”

Experts expect more plea deals to come, as it becomes clear that fierce loyalty to Trump could come with bad consequences for his onetime allies.

“If you remember the Bugs Bunny cartoons from your youth, where the small snowball would turn into a giant avalanche, that’s kind of what’s going on in the short term here,” said Amy Lee Copeland, a lawyer in Savannah, Georgia, and partner of Rouse + Copeland LLC who specializes in appellate litigation and federal criminal defense representation.

“You have people who turn in other people who make it spread,” Copeland added. Trump’s fate may depend on how far – and how fast – the turning against Trump spreads.

– Lauren Camera contributed to this report