Donald Trump’s indicted lawyer reveals horror scenes she witnessed in jail

Jenna Ellis, one of the former president’s 18 alleged co-conspirators, said Fulton County Jail staff led her through a corridor of inmates who were abusing and catcalling her prior to being charged.

Fulton County Jail where Donald Trump and his co-conspirators were charged with attempting to defraud the 2020 presidential election.

Donald Trump’s mugshot of angry resolve wasn’t the only one to go viral on social media last week after his processing at Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, on charges of racketeering to overturn the state’s 2020 election result.

One of his 18 alleged co-conspirators, Jenna Ellis, 38, one of the former president’s legal advisers as he disputed the 2020 election, struck a different pose, distinguishing herself from the set of sombre faces that emerged with a beaming smile that infuriated some, delighted others.

Jenna Ellis.

“It was an intimidation tactic for demoralisation, to make us look defeated, I wanted to go in there showing that they‘re not going to get to me,” she told The Australian in an interview.

Ms Ellis said she never expected to be indicted last week on two charges of helping Mr Trump in his alleged subversion efforts by Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis, and said she was “completely innocent”.

“It’s about attempting to criminalise the practice of law and would set up a terrible precedent for the United States”.

To secure her release on bail last week – the trial could begin as early as October or as late as next year – she had to stump up $10,000 cash to guarantee her $100,000 bond, as part of a process she said was “designed to try to be scary”.

“I had to walk through almost like a movie scene, where all of these prisoners in jail cells we repushing pushing on the walls and clamouring and catcalling and you have to walk straight through it,” she explained.

“A fight broke out while I was back there and I had to be like, pushed behind a couple of guards”.

An SUV carrying Mr Trump drives into the Fulton County Jail.

Along with fellow co-conspirator and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, Ms Ellis, who can’t talk about the details of the case, said she feared significant financial pain from “insane” legal fees that alone could rise to $1 million for her alone.

“Even assuming that we don‘t have to get to trial, I’m looking at the short-term of having to raise about half a million dollars,” she said, expressing gratitude for the $180,000 she had already raised from private donors and crowd-funding efforts.

“Not only is this complex litigation, but it‘s also very high profile, and it’s also Trump related, so a lot of lawyers don’t want to be involved,” she added, pointing to a dark money group with ties to the Democrat party called Project 65 that spent millions trying to disbar lawyers who have acted for Mr Trump in his post-election law suits.

Originally from Colorado, where she practised law privately and as a deputy district attorney, Ellis shot to prominence in late 2020 when she began to appear alongside Mr Giuliani at press conferences as one of Mr Trump’s legal advisers, insisting voter fraud in the 2020 election.

“I was more just the spokesman for the media for the cases,” she said, noting she did not appear in court for the 50 or so election-related cases Mr Trump’s lawyers ultimately filed alleging vote fraud, all of which failed.

Like Mr Giuliani, who reportedly faces bankruptcy from legal fees, Ellis is frustrated her former boss, who is facing 41 charges in Georgia along with three other separate indictments, has shown no sign of helping this former advisers and staff with their legal costs.

“It’s disappointing the fact that he has just left us all on the field now, he’s fundraising for himself, but he‘s refusing to help on any of us,” she added.

A devout Christian who often cites bible verses to her 1 million followers on X, the platform formally known as Twitter, Ellis has since launched a current affairs podcast, the Jenna Ellis Show, since her time with Mr Trump, whom she no longer supports politically.

“I reject the assertion that Trump is the “only” one that can provide accountability for the deep state,” she said.

“Trump will always have the advantage of knowing how to best use media. But if Americans really want solutions, I’d go with the guy who knows best how to use the powers of government to protect us, and that’s DeSantis”.