Controversial Trump Attorney — Slammed as a 'Joke' by Other Conservatives — Announces on TV She's Leaving GOP
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MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Jenna Ellis
Jenna Ellis, a lawyer who has been unsuccessfully pushing Donald Trump's unfounded claims of election fraud — becoming a lightning rod for controversy as Trump legal team racked up a string of failures in the court — announced on TV this week that she is leaving the GOP.
She criticized the Republicans who have been sharply criticizing her behavior.
"I am leaving the Republican Party until the Republican Party comes back home to conservatives," Ellis told the far-right outlet Newsmax, where she is a contributor.
"I will stand up and champion truth, conservative principles, our Declaration of Independence as America's charter and the U.S. Constitution, but I will not stand by and abide by a party that says that we have to support everything that comes under the banner of 'R,' even though it's not conservative."
Ellis also called for the resignation of the Republican National Committee's chief counsel, Justin Riemer, who reportedly denounced her and fellow Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani's quest to invalidate President Joe Biden's election victory.
"What Rudy and Jenna are doing is a joke and they are getting laughed out of court," Riemer said in a November email, according to a new book by Michael Wolff. "They are misleading millions of people who have wishful thinking that the president is going to somehow win this thing."
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Rudy Giuliani (center) and other Trump campaign lawyers at a November press conference
I’m not quitting the GOP. The GOP quit me and all true conservatives. I will always be a voice for conservatism and the truth.
We can reform the GOP if we stop sending money to the RINOs and liars and back only conservative, America First candidates.#RonnaMustGo https://t.co/jp3NRXfe8i— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) July 13, 2021
Ellis accused Riemer and the RNC chair, Ronna McDaniel, of not being "supportive of President Trump" after he lost the election. Riemer, however, noted to The Washington Post that he led the RNC legal team in more than 55 lawsuits on behalf of Trump's reelection.
"I will say publicly now what I then said privately," Riemer told the Post. "I take issue with individuals who brought lawsuits that did not serve President Trump well and did not give him the best chance in court."
Ellis encouraged fellow Trump loyalists to follow her lead and leave the GOP in protest in order to push it to back her views. "I'm not gonna stand by and support a party that doesn't support my values," she said on Newsmax.
Ellis has a history of shifting opinions of Trump: In years-old media appearances she called him an "idiot" and a "bully," but said last year she was "wrong."
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"I'm saying 'enough is enough.' I'm done," she continued.
Meanwhile, hundreds of those involved in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol have still not been identified. The insurrection was spurred by Trump's repeated false claims that the November presidential election, which he lost to President Joe Biden, was somehow stolen from him.
Numerous judges and elections officials, including Republicans, have said there is no evidence of this.
