Report: Attorney says she was told Trump wouldn’t leave White House

ATLANTA — Jenna Ellis, the former Trump campaign attorney who recently struck a plea deal in Fulton County, reportedly told prosecutors she was informed in the weeks following the 2020 election that the then-president was “not going to leave” the White House despite his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

The disclosure came during an interview Ellis recorded with the Fulton County District Attorney’s office, according to ABC News, which obtained excerpts of the session. The network also said it had viewed portions of a similar interview — or proffer — conducted with Sidney Powell, another lawyer who was affiliated with former President Donald Trump after the 2020 election.

Both Ellis and Powell reached agreements with Fulton prosecutors last month, pleading guilty to lesser crimes in exchange for their cooperation in the case. The women were among the 18 defendants indicted alongside Trump in August for racketeering and other alleged crimes stemming from the former president’s effort to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.

Ellis and Powell’s Georgia-based attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday evening. A spokesperson for the Fulton DA’s office declined to comment.

The proffers were sent to the attorneys for all the remaining defendants in the case as part of the discovery process, according to people with knowledge.

Ellis recounted to prosecutors a conversation she had with Dan Scavino, a senior White House aide, Dec. 19, 2020, according to ABC. Scavino reportedly told her “the boss,” meaning Trump, “is not going to leave under any circumstances. We are just going to stay in power.”

When Ellis responded that “it doesn’t quite work that way,” Scavino said, “we don’t care,” according to a portion of the Ellis proffer released by ABC. In the video, Ellis is seen talking to Adam Ney, an assistant Fulton DA.

In her proffer, Powell shed more light on her frequent communication with Trump in the weeks following the election, according to the network, despite the campaign distancing itself from her publicly. Powell reportedly said Trump inquired about the status of her lawsuits challenging results.

Powell also reportedly provided details about the infamous Oval Office meeting Dec. 18, 2020, in which Trump and other advisors discussed seizing voting machines and appointing Powell special counsel to investigate election fraud.