Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include comment from Ellis.
Jenna Ellis, a former attorney for President Donald J. Trump who later repudiated Trump and agreed to cooperate with Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis in her prosecutions of Trump and his co-defendants, was paid $20,000 late last year by a political action committee funded almost exclusively by Midland political megadonor Tim Dunn.
According to campaign finance reports on file with the Federal Election Commission, Ellis was paid $20,000 by Jefferson Rising on November 12, 2024. Jefferson Rising is a federal SuperPAC that received $18 million from Dunn last year. Dunn’s donations accounted for more than 97% of the funds raised by Jefferson Rising last year.
Ellis was a member of Trump’s legal team during his 2020 campaign for President. On August 14, 2023, Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis brought charges against Trump, Ellis, and 17 other co-defendants on allegations arising from challenges to the results of the 2020 Presidential election in Georgia.
On October 24, 2023, Ellis entered into a plea deal with Willis where she pled guilty to a felony charge but avoided jail time. As part of the plea agreement, Ellis agreed to “fully cooperate with prosecutors” in Willis’ office, testify at hearings or trials involving her co-defendants, and “continue to provide additional statements and affidavits” to prosecutors.
Some media outlets quickly jumped on Ellis’ plea deal in an attempt to advance a narrative that Trump had likely engaged in illegal conduct. In an article published in the wake of Ellis’ plea agreement, Reuters described the guilty pleas of Ellis and two co-defendants as marking “significant progress for Willis in securing testimony that could implicate Trump and other more high-profile defendants in a scheme to illegally interfere in the election.” CNN described the pleas as “a monumental step forward for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis” in her prosecutions of Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and Mark Meadows.
Willis, whose prosecutions of Trump and his co-defendants were described as “lawfare” by many conservative legal commentators, was disqualified from the election prosecutions in December after it was revealed that she was engaged in a romantic relationship with a special prosecutor that she hired to handle the cases.
Last year, Ellis reached an agreement with regulators in Colorado where she agreed to a three-year suspension of her Colorado law license to resolve accusations that she engaged in professional misconduct in connection with her representation of Trump. Ellis faced possible disbarment in the disciplinary proceeding.
According to a report by Colorado Newsline, Ellis “repudiated” Trump in a deposition she gave to investigators in the disciplinary proceeding. “I’m not aware of anyone else on the Trump team who has either taken responsibility or has repudiated Trump himself and the campaign and the efforts to the extent that I have,” Ellis testified. On a podcast in 2023, Ellis said, “I simply can’t support [Trump] for elected office again.” Ellis added, “Why I have chosen to distance is because of that frankly malignant narcissistic tendency to simply say that he’s never done anything wrong.”
Ellis, a Florida resident, raised eyebrows earlier this month when she tweeted her support for David Cook for Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.
“The Texas House Speaker wields a LOT of power. Conservatives have a HUGE opportunity to get this one right. @KenPaxtonTX is right to support @DavidCookTexas!! He also has the pledged delegates,” wrote Ellis.
Ellis’ tweet caused some to speculate whether there were financial motivations for her unexpected interest in the race for Speaker of the Texas House. Ellis had previously been paid to post social media content opposing a ballot measure in Florida last year that sought to legalize marijuana.
The Texas Voice has previously reported that another PAC funded by Dunn had paid Influenceable, a company that facilitates paid social media posts, $18,000 in 2023. Ellis’ tweet endorsing Cook for Speaker was shared by Luke Macias and Chris Salcedo, who both host podcasts for the website Texas Scorecard. Dunn serves as Chairman of Citizens News Guild, Inc., which is the parent organization of Texas Scorecard.
Ellis confirmed her work her Dunn, but denied that the payment from Jefferson Rising was related to the Texas Speaker’s race.
“I’m a paid consultant for Dunn on pro-life messaging and issues. This payment had absolutely nothing to do with Texas specifically or the speaker’s race,” said Ellis.
