Trump attorney Jenna Ellis asks why MAGA PAC isn’t paying for the defense of her, others in Georgia case

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that Ellis questioned why the super PAC MAGA Inc. is not paying for all of the defendant’s defenses.

Trump-aligned attorney Jenna Ellis, one of the 18 co-defendants in the former president’s Georgia 2020 election interference trial, publicly questioned Monday why the super PAC MAGA Inc. is not paying for her defense, and the defense of the other defendants, in the Georgia case.  

“I was reliably informed Trump isn’t funding any of us who are indicted,” Ellis wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Would this change if he becomes the nominee? Why then, not now? I totally agree this has become a bigger principle than just one man. So why isn’t MAGA, Inc. funding everyone’s defense?”

Ellis was responding to a separate post from Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, who wrote, “The sooner we unify behind a nominee that sooner we can use recourses to fund the defense of everyone indicted for being a Trump Republican.”

Ellis faces two charges in Georgia over her part in former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election: racketeering, which every defendant in the case is charged with, and socializing a public officer to violate their oath in connection with her attendance at a Dec. 3 Georgia Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing.  

Earlier this year, she admitted in court to making false statements about the 2020 presidential election, leading a judge to issue a public censure.

“The parties agree that Respondent, through her conduct, undermined the American public’s confidence in the presidential election, violating her duty of candor to the public,” Bryon Large, Colorado’s presiding disciplinary judge, wrote in his opinion in March.

The Hill reached out to MAGA Inc. for comment.

Trump, who is seeking to return to the White House next year, has made headlines over his use of campaign funds to pay his mounting legal fees. According to campaign finance filings published at the end of last month, Trump’s joint fundraising committee reported raising nearly $54 million during the first half of 2023. The filings also show Trump’s political committees spent roughly $25 million on legal fees in the same period.