Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes’ office announced Monday that Jenna Ellis, a former Donald Trump attorney and one of the 18 defendants in the Arizona “fake electors” case stemming from the 2020 election, is cooperating with the prosecution.
Ellis signed the cooperation agreement Monday morning, according to the announcement, which said prosecutors are dropping the charges against her.
“This agreement represents a significant step forward in our case,” Mayes, a Democrat, said in a statement. “I am grateful to Ms. Ellis for her cooperation with our investigation and prosecution.
Ellis pleaded guilty last year in the Georgia election interference case in which Trump was also charged. She was Trump’s senior legal adviser from early 2019 until shortly after he left office in January 2021 and was part of the legal team that advised him as he sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
Ellis and the rest of the Trump allies charged this year had pleaded not guilty after Mayes unveiled an indictment related to their involvement in a plan to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state.
Ellis’ cooperation agreement notes that she spoke with prosecutors on June 17. The day before, lead prosecutor Nicholas Klingerman told the media assembled outside a Phoenix courthouse that plea deals might be coming.
“I think, in any other, like any other case, that we’ll make plea offers,” Klingerman said, adding that “I have discussed the possibility” of a plea offer with at least one of the defendants.
A month after the 2020 election, 11 Trump supporters convened at the Arizona GOP’s headquarters in Phoenix to sign a certificate claiming to be Arizona’s 11 electors to the Electoral College, though Joe Biden won the state by 10,457 votes and state officials certified his electors. The state Republican Party documented the signing of the certificate in a social media post and sent it to Congress and the National Archives.
Those accused of being “fake electors” and the others alleged to have been accomplices are charged with fraud, forgery, and conspiracy.
Speaking to Brahm Resnik of NBC affiliate KPNX of Phoenix on Friday, Mayes expressed optimism in her office’s ongoing prosecution of the “fake electors.”
“We’re making progress in the case, and we feel good about the case,” she said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
