jenna ellis today, last week, ken cheese sebro and sidney pows plea are important, because ms. ellis spoke to the false facts that underlie the assault. so i think it is a significant milestone as we continue to seek accountability for the the events of the 2020 election. >> yeah. >> norm, standby for one second, because i want the bring back in nick valencia who was the only journalist inside of the courtroom for the moment of the emotional statement from jenna ellis. nick? >> yeah, i just got out of the courtroom where we saw jenna ellis take that guilty plea, and the dominos are starting to fall against the former president, and another blow of the defense as yet another attorney takes a guilty plea from the allegations of the fulton county courthouse, and it was impromptu, and it was scheduleed by judge mcafee, and i sat behind jenna ellis. she had a range of emotions, and when the accusations against her were read, it seemed as though she had a smirk as she was hearing the charges against her, and then in a striking moment, and unpredented moment so far in the trial, she st

today, jenna ellis did something unusual in trump world, through tears. she expressed remorse and took responsibility for having sprayed donald trump's lies in court. >> -- and attempting to raise challenges to the election in several states, including georgia, i failed to do my due diligence. i believe in and i value election integrity. if i knew, that what you, know i would have declined to represent donald trump in these post election challenges. i look back on this whole experience with deep remorse. i have taken responsibility already before the colorado borough, who censorate me, and i now take responsibility before this court and apologized for the people of georgia. >> leading off our discussion tonight, amy lee copeland a criminal defense attorney and former georgia peripheral, prosecutor barbara mcquade, former u. s. attorney and a law professor at the university of michigan law school. she is co-host of the hashtag sisters in law podcast. and neal katyal, former acting solicitor general of the united states, and a professor at georgetown law. h

the meetings were set up by jenna ellis. and it looks like this has all of the familiar optics of the past plea deals we've seen. just stepped out of the courtroom. jenna ellis is in the courtroom, along with her attorney and the lead prosecutor from the district attorney's office. all of these look familiar and similar to what we've seen and how it went down with past plea deals. just before i got on the phone with you, john, i stepped out of court. and papers were signed and handed over. all of this is happening in real-time. we're the only network here and the only news group. this is an impromptu hearing that we were tipped off to, by great work for our journalists. baz thing because things are moving fast. several co-defendants have taken plea deals. i told you about sidney powell and it appears another plea deal is in the works for attorney jenna ellis. >> there was a plea deal by scott hall, one of the lesser-known defends. it was sidney powell and ke kenneth. what is inside. it appears that jenna ellis, this trump ca

jenna ellis' plea deal came out of nowhere. what types of conversations do you think are happening behind the scenes? >> part of what you're seeing here is that the defendants are being advised about their lawyers if they want to cooperate, they need do it sooner rather than later or you lose your bargaining chip with the prosecutors. because if you wait until the end, they sort of have everything they need. as of right now, the prosecutors might be more willing to engage with you on making those types of deals if you can offer them something they don't already know or you can testify at trial, that might be something that they're worth willing to milwaukee a deal. if you wait a lot down the line at this -- many more months, you'll see fewer and fewer of those deals. for someone like mark meadows, he's trying to fight this case, get kicked to federal court, that's waiting in the wings, the appellate court won't hear that until december. you might see a stop and start with a few people rushing in now, getting their deals with pr

jenna ellis, remember her? one of his former attorney's not flipping on him in the georgia trial, or at least pleading guilty. and another former attorney taking the stand against him in yet another trial. this might be called the avalanche part of the election season. we will be right back. you want to be able to provide your child with the tools or resources they need. with reliable internet at home, through the internet essentials program, the world opened up. fellas, fellas. that's how my son was able to find the hidden genius project. we wanted to give y'all the necessary skills to compete with the future. kevin's now part of this next generation of young people who feel they can thrive. ♪ ♪ well, quite a dramatic day in court, or should i say, courts. there was a tearful gianna ellis apologizing for her role in the georgia election subversion case and a guilty plea. that, former trump victor michael cohen taking the stand today as a key witness against trump in the new york a.g. civil fraud case against h

jenna ellis, sidney powell, and rudy giuliani.he presented herself as a constitutional scholar, which is how she would get booked on fox and other right-wing media, presenting herself as an expert. can she now claim to be essentially someone who was duped? >> well, i suppose anyone can claim that. my guess is in the recorded proffer that she provided to prosecutors, she provided a more fulsome admission of her own guilt and information that she can share with the prosecution team and to testify to at a trial. she got a good deal. she's pleading guilty to a felony, but no prison time, and so i imagine that prosecutors first listened to that proffered testimony and then assessed its value before allowing her to plead guilty to this deal. so i imagine that she has information about rudy giuliani, maybe others on the team. and one thing that make her a little different from sidney powell, who trump himself referred to as, quote, crazy, you know, jenna ellis doesn't have that same baggage. she might be a more perhaps less well known, b

he hears that jenna ellis has flipped.ting immunity and yet what does he do? he basically says, you know, i am still in charge of the republican party. i can extend this chaos. and i can set the standard for the future of this party. it's kind of a remarkable 24 hours. >> and he called yesterday congressman emmer a globalist rhino because he did not support the coup in the 2020 election. julie, you've been covering this somehow for the last three weeks trying to figure out who will be the choice. for the moment, congressman johnson of louisiana. who is next on the world's most boring reality show? >> well, we've had groundhog day never ending for the last 22 days, but today could be different. it's not because some of the hard right conservatives, these flame throwers are necessarily worried about the two global wars or impending government shutdown deadline around the corner. this could potentially work out for mike johnson, four-term louisiana congressman because these hard right conservatives are worried that moderate r

yes, jenna ellis is another very _ flipping. yes, jenna ellis is another very loyal - flipping.rson i flipping. yes, jenna ellis is| another very loyal person to flipping. yes, jenna ellis is - another very loyal person to donald trump. she appeared in court and her voice was breaking, she appeared to be crying when she said she had a great deal of remorse for what had happened and she wished she had done her duty is an challenged voter fraud claims presented by other trump lawyers. she is the third former donald trump lawyer to take this plea deal. there was also another trump ally that has taken a similar deal. in exchange for this, she will face a prison sentence, potentially a large fine, but more crucially, she could be asked to give evidence against donald trump and the remaining co—defendants. to put simply, this is good news for prosecutors in georgia. it means these people once loyal can help them in their case against donald trump and his co—defendants when their trial takes place. £311" trump and his co-defendants when their trial takes place.— their trial takes place

. >> state versus jenna ellis. >> reporter: lawyer jenna ellis, who promoted trump's election lies, today, says she regrets it all. >> if i knew then what i know now, i would have declined to represent donald trump in these post-election challenges. i look back on this whole experience with deep remorse. >> reporter: ellis is now pledging to cooperate with prosecutors in their case against donald trump. meadows' testimony is an extraordinarily significant development. in the days and weeks between the 2020 election and january 6th, no individual was closer to donald trump than mark meadows. one important point, david, our sources say that meadows testified that he never once heard donald trump acknowledge that he lost the election, not even privately. david? >> david: jon karl and our investigative team breaking this late today. jon, thank you. >>> we do have one more note tonight on the former president. this evening, for the first time in five years, donald trump and his former fixer and friend michael cohen were face-to-face in court, seated just a few feet apart. michael cohen, who se

jenna ellis sloan in her mug shot. third lawyer to confess within one week. last weekended with two lawyers who used to represent donald trump going into court, confessing and pleading guilty. ellis joins them. i want to show you briefly all three of these pleas together. >> how do you plead? >> guilty. >> guilty. >> guilty. >> there it is. in all this is the fourth total conviction in the rico cases. d.a. willis is 4-0, the key trump lawyer convicts are, of course, the higher up in the food chain of this chart. the other two trump lawyers, they pled out on the eve of a trial that was expected to begin this week. if they hadn't pled guilty we'd be covering this right now. ms. ellis was not about to start a trial. she rushed back to court, her choice, trying to get a deal while she can. what you see here, this new footage is from that atlanta program today. ellis' plea is different from some of the other things we heard in the other two plea deals. we'll show you that in moments ahead. i also want to tell you to be clear that her guilty plea does point to a po

how much of a potential threat is this jenna ellis plea deal to donald trump? >> i think all the plea deals -- jenna ellis today, chesebro, powell -- are significant. they're not as direct a strike on donald trump as mark meadows testifying for the feds. but what each of those people in georgia do is they help the d.a. fill out a piece of her case, whether the fake electors scheme, attempt to breach voting systems in coffee county, georgia. each of those folks -- powell, chesebro, ellis -- help the prosecutors put another brick in the wall towards building their ultimate case against donald trump. >> laura, part what was we heard from jenna ellis in court is she firmly believed the election lies when she was saying them. what is the significance of that? >> shout-out to elie honig for the pink floyd reference. because it's really important to think about how it all stacks up. remember, and i understand and believe that people can have a kind of epiphany in what they've done. many plea deals and plea offers are about people realizing what they have done wrong. t

very busy hour with breaking news out of georgia where just this morning a former trump attorney, jenna ellisplead guilty in the state's election interference case. ellis is the fourth codefendant to accept a deal instead of going to trial. >> if i knew then what i know now, i would have declined to represent donald trump in these post election challenges. i look back on the full experience with deep remorse. i have taken responsibility already with the bar -- >> this is a big deal. how big of a deal is this for the broader picture? >> good morning, josÉ. this is significant because, as you said, she's not only the fourth codefendant to plead guilty in the election interference case, but she's the third member of the legal team, an insider and somebody that can speak to the conversations about what exactly the scheme was to try and overturn the election results in georgia. prosecutors there laid out exactly what the theory is in terms of what she's now actually pleading guilty to, and it comes down to aiding and abetting false statements around december of 2020, and she was going in front of

we had heard discussions were going on between the fulton county district attorney's office and jenna ellis's attorneys as early as last week, and this morning we saw a stakeout of the defense attorney nathan wade walk into court with ellis, and then all of this came in and schedule some impromptu hearings and this is a bombshell to the defense, and for every plea deal that is cut, the walls of the defense is going to be crumbling in on him, and we were the only correspondent team inside of the courtroom to see jenna ellis' tearful apology in the courtroom to address this in open court. >> in the frenetic pace to address challenges in other states including georgia, i failed to do my due diligence. i respect election integrity, and if i knew then what i know now, i would have refused to represent donald trump. i look back on this experience with deep remorse. with those failures, your honor, i have taken response before the colorado bar who censured me, and i take responsibility before this court and i apologize to the people of georgia. >> reporter: she appeared to implicate rudy giuliani, a

you see with jenna ellis and the agreement there. she has pled guilty. that's what cooperation means. accepting responsibilities. not merely coming in and talking, not merely admitting to certain things. it's saying what you ask. frankly, i think he is benefiting from jack smith's approach which is just to charge donald trump now and put all this later on. in a typical federal investigation you would charge the lower level people earlier on to force them to flim. because that case is focuseden on just the former president, they get the benefit of that. >> you know trump world better than just about anyone. this doesn't come in a vacuum. we have seen three others flip in the georgia case. any sense that the walls are closing in? or no? >> i think it's publicly they will say no, it's just, you know, none of this means anything, sidney powell wasn't really my attorney, neither was jenna ellis. jenna ellis was so close to trump world. you can't really even overstate how close she was. she was having direct conversations with trump, out on tv. he loved her tv

jenna ellis is now saying she was merely relying on other attorneys to give her advice. but she was a grown woman, and these election lies were very obvious. and we were stating this as fact at the time on the air. these election lies were obvious to anyone with a functioning brain stem. what do you make of this? >> this may be her defense now, but let's remember, she did just plead guilty to a felony and the bottom line of all of this is, this is a bad day for donald trump. as you said, she was in the room. she is a firsthand witness. this is someone who had direct links to donald trump. we don't know yet exactly what testimony she's given the prosecutors. what evidence and communication and mails and texts me shave had. but she was in the room. so even though you think this is a day late for her to be contrite, she did plead guilty. >> so she's the fourth to flip in the georgia case. >> right. >> how does this -- how does that change the case for donald trump? >> so, i think that every time someone flips, the prosecutors, you have that chart of there going down the roa

in georgia jenna ellis becoming the latest trump attorney to flip in the georgia election sub version case. she tearfully pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements. in new york former trump lawyer and so-called fixer michael coen took the stand in the former president's civil fraud trial, testifying against his former boss. so much to discuss. let's do that now with former federal prosecutor. so trump was there in person as coen was directly implicating him in the inflation of asset valuations. how crucial was this testimony from cohen? >> really important. the judge already found there was fraud here. ultimately part of the core of the case the ag is bringing, the attorney general is bringing to new york, it comes down to michael cohen and others testifying that the valuations were inflated, that essentially trump was giving two separate valuations. he would have them low for example when needed for tax purposes and high to lenders. and that is the core of the case for the new york ag. i don't expect that case to end up very well for trump and the trump orga

what more can you tell us about jenna ellis' guilty plea?d she plead guilty to, and what are the conditions? >> we know he's the fourth defendant to plead guilty here in fulton county. most notably the third trump attorney or former trump attorney to do so. so, the terms of her plea deal were similar to what we have seen before. we're talking about five years probation, $5,000 restitution, community service, has to write a letter of apology and most notably she has to cooperate with the prosecution and testify truthfully in all future proceedings. what was notable, though, chris, what we saw today in the courtroom that we haven't seen in any of these previous plea deals is that jenna ellis made a statement. she said she wanted to get up, wanted to address the court. the judge reminded her she is under no obligation to do so. in the emotional statement, she said that she was relying on more experienced attorneys. she said she wishes she had done her due diligence in trying to make sure the claims were true, and most notably she says if she ha

and jenna ellis, unlike sydney powell and kenneth chesebro, jenna ellis's plea, she specifically promisedion to the dea. that includes, it's stated on the record, more interviews, providing documents. she will continue to meet with prosecutors, so, you know, if she's providing emails and continuing to help the dea as they build their case, that could be very damning for rudy giuliani. i think as to donald trump, it's a bit of a mixed bag. on the one hand, it is significant that you have one of donald trump's lawyers acknowledging now that the voter fraud claims that they made are false, that they were false. so, having one of them do that -- is significant. that said, i think the same story that she is telling about, well, i just believed rudy on the evidence of election fraud and i relied on his experience. well, that's what donald trump is going to say, right? he's going to sing that same tune. so, i think this story doesn't necessarily help advance the ball against donald trump. but again, he's fully promising to cooperate, so expect fani willis and her prosecutors to really work with

which jenna ellis did do in a courtroom through tears. more on that in a second. but according to a new report tonight, special counsel jack smith has secured his most valuable witness yet in federal election interference case against the former president, his final cheech of staff mark meadows. abc news is reporting tonight that meadows has been granted immunity and has met with smith's team at least three times this year alone including once before a federal grand jury while he had that immunity. according to abc, meadows allegedly told investigators that he did not believe the election was stolen and that trump was, quote, being dishonest when he claimed victory after the polls closed in november of 2020. for more on this breaking news and what could it mean, i want to bring "the new york times" political correspondent maggie haberman and ellie honig. cnn hasn't confirmed this reporting yet. if this is the case, if mark meadows did get this level of immunity and he's there testifying, how devastating is that for donald trump sf. >> based on the details in the a

it was more zealous about the fact that it was a stolen election dan jenna ellis.k anybody on that team with testify to that, so i would find it hard to believe that she did that. he could have gotten intimidated. >> -- i don't know what that is saying, but she does not want her to flip. it seems to me like if you talk to trump's lawyers, jenna ellis flipping puts squarely rudy giuliani in the sights. >> surely does, but they're also talking about a r. i. c. o. case. anytime you get evidence against one defendant, that goes against all of them. yes, you are building a case against rudy, but that case against rudy will also be a case against trump. it's not just that for one person, it's not for everybody left over. >> it's interesting that you say that, because i remember when the case was brought, the last of the criminal cases to be brought, there was a lot of time wasted on george's r. i. c. o. law, a strong -- candy fulton county office manage the complex case? willis is having a pretty good time so far, imran? >> you are not wrong. she has given pretty generou

. >> jenna ellis confessing to her crimes and discussing her, quote, remorse in court. as you can see on this chart that we've made, this is new tonight taking it all together. ellis is one of the convicted in georgia. on the upper part of the chart you see others who are both convicted in dpa and doj coconspiratorteres. that puts a lot more heat on a lot more people including mark meadow tuesday cooperate in both cases and strengthens jack smith's hands in the doj trial of donald trump in march. renato, we'll bring that back up because when i say it's a lot to process i think that would be true for anyone especially if you haven't followed all these characters. but how has this worked out to now put more heat on trump in the first upcoming trial? >> well, one thing for sure he can't count on someone like jenna ellis or kenneth chesebro coming in and potentially letting him off the hook by saying they gave him legal advice, that, you know, said this was okay hoar had conversations with them that may have given comfort. instead there's a real prospect they're going to be

. >> for weeks, attorney jenna ellis furiously defended then president donald trump, as he falsely claimed the 2020 election was rigged. today, she sobbed as she told a judge she was wrong. >> if i need what i know now, i would have to climb to represent donald trump and these postcolonial adjusts. >> in a georgia courtroom, she pleaded guilty to a felony for helping fuel lies about thousands of dead people casting votes in 2020. >> i failed to do mount hood village. and >> smiling for her mugshot just two months ago, now the fourth codefendant to flip and fulton county's sprawling election interference case against the former president and more than a dozen others. mr. trump has pleaded not guilty, arguing he's been targeted by democratic prosecutors because he's that republican front runner. he was back in a manhattan courtroom today, facing the states star witness, his former fixer attorney, michael cohen. >> this is about accountability, plain and simple. >> raise your right hand? >> it was cohen's congressional testimony that jump-started that new york case, were his former boss now s

jenna ellis who was part of his so-called elite strike force to overturn the results of the election guilty in georgia. fourth alleged co-conspirator and third lawyer to trade d.a. fani willis an admission for documents and testimony. of course, these lawyers were all pre-seated by another trump lawyer. michal cohen infamously flipped on the former president five years ago. now cohen is coming face to face with his former boss for the first time since, testify against him today in the new york fraud trial. there's the camera focusing. joining me is msnbc news senior legal correspondent and co-anchor of saturday today, laura jaret. michael cohen, face-to-face with donald trump. what's happening in the courtroom? >> the most important thing just happened a short time ago where cohen got on the witness stand. he's been there all day and he got on the witness stand and essentially said look, i was tasked with trying to cook up a number that would make donald trump's assets look bigger than they actually are. it's cohen's testimony that jump-starts this whole thing where he tells congress

jenna ellis' tearful guilty plea in the georgia election case. she distanced herself today far, far, far away from the man she once represented as a member of what she called elite strike force team. we'll bring you those stories and more when we continue after a quick break. don't go anywhere. e after a quick break. don't agonywhere. - [female narrator] five billion people lack access to safe surgery. thousands of children are suffering and dying from treatable causes. for 40 years, mercy ships has deployed floating hospitals to provide the free surgeries these children need. join us. together, we can give children the hope and healing they never thought possible. it's a mission powered by love, made possible by you. give today. type 2 diabetes? discover the ozempic® tri-zone. ♪ ♪ i got the power of 3. i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. i'm under 7. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults als

what jenna ellis may now tell prosecutors about the ex-president's plans.ladimir putin has reversed decades of diplomacy. one of our next guests writes about that. and then later ron desantis thinks he sees a distinct opening to win over republican voters. we'll tell you what that is for the struggling florida governor governor's campaign. that's all straight ahead. >> but first we're learning new details about the off-duty alaska airlines pilot accused of trying to crash a commercial plane. the man reportedly told fbi investigators he was having a nervous break down and admitted to using psychedelic mushrooms days before the flight he was on. nbc news correspondent tom costello has more. >> reporter: in an oregon courtroom joseph emerson facing 167 counts of attempted murder, reckless endangerment, and endangering an aircraft, plus interfering with a flight crew. >> there is probable cause to believe that defendant has committed one of the offenses. >> reporter: an fbi affidavit claims while off-duty riding in the cockpit seat he told the copilot and pilot

jenna ellis tearfully addressed an atlanta court tuesday. >> and the frenetic pace, i failed to do my due diligence. i believe in and value election integrity. if i knew then what i know now, i would have declined to represent donald trump. amy: jenna ellis was sentenced to five years of probation, a fine of $5000, and 100 hours of community service. she will also write a letter of apology to the state of georgia. here in new york, michael cohen testified in trump's civil fraud trial that his former boss instructed him to inflate the value of his assets "based upon a number that arbitrarily -- that trump arbitrarily elected." michael cohen, trump's one-time fixer and lawyer, said he would reverse engineer financial data to reach "whatever number told us." cohen took the stand as trump watched on just feet away. meanwhile, abc news is reporting former white house chief of staff mark meadows testified at least three times to a federal grand jury after he was given immunity in special counsel jack smith's investigation into trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. meadows reportedl

won't his former lawyers, jenna ellis, sidney powell, have credibility problems because they zit cystedident and now say they committed crimes related to the election fraud? >> i don't think that creates much of a credibility problem, howie. that's what happens in every criminal trial where you have multiple co-defendants. everyone starts by pleading not guilty, and then as the trial becomes closer, they realize the reality of their situation which is they are guilty, and then they look to plead. so, look, these are three lawyers that donald trump -- ken cheseboro, jenna ellis, sidney powell -- these are folks that donald trump himself selected to have as part of his legal team, sent out social media posts saying they were an amazing legal team. i guarantee you now he'll throw every one of them under the bus, because that's what he does. howard: you argue that republicans eventually come to recognize the depth of trump's legal problems, but maga voters are absolutely convinced that he's being persecuted, and they don't trust the media who say otherwise. >> well, that's why we have to be

and his company. >> breaking news out of georgia, where just this morning, former trump attorney jenna ellis guilty in the state's 2020 election interference case. ellis is now the fourth defendant to accept a plea deal with prosecutors >> seth: when it comes to trump's legal troubles, they're going to have to break into breaking news stories with more breaking news. >> breaking news tonight the former trump white house chief of st -- >> breaking news out of new york, former president trump came face to - >> breaking news out of georgia -- [ laughter ] where just this morning former trump attorney jenna ellis pleaded gui -- >> seth: breaking news out of sheboygan, where donald trump has just been caught shoplifting an "us weekly" out of a piggly wiggly [ laughter ] "if i'm guilty of anything, it's wanting to catch up on the latest with taylor and travis. [ laughter ] team -- team both of them. so wholesome so sweet she's there with the mother and she supports her career. just a beautiful thing [ light laughter ] and if there's one thing that everyone knows about trump is that i love love [ l

laura: jenna ellis also said she was relying on advice from lawyers with more experience. how significant are these guilty pleas in georgia, and specifically ellis's testimony and whether that impacts trump and rudy giuliani? andrea: this is all of a piece with michael cohen york, a former attorney who worked with trump. there are three attorneys in georgia who worked with trump who pleaded guilty. jenna ellis is central to this ad says she will cooperate with prosecutors. if this plays out as the cohen case has in new york, we may see details about how this happened. we see the pattern of people who work with trump feeling he betrayed them and are now deciding they want to do what they can to cut him loose. laura: there is another member of trump's inner circle that appeared to have turned on him. abc is reporting that former chief of staff mark meadows has been granted immunity by special counsel jack smith in exchange for his testimony. what does this mean? andrea: mark meadows was everywhere with trump after the 2020 election, up to january 6. on january 6, we had forme

the latest, jenna ellis and here's how "the washington post" described her in court yesterday.ith something the others did not, a tearful statement to the court at suggested she is prepared to cast blame up t chain, whether and how much that includes trump is a big question. but it would seem to be bad news for rudy giuliani and potentially by extension for trump himself. how worried should giuliani be and trump? >> so i think that giuliani should be worried. it's clear from what she said in court that she's flipped on giuliani. i think trump actually has less reason to be concerned, and the reason i say that is because of what her statement said. she -- it's important to note she did not admit that she knew at the time that she was making these voter fraud claims, she did not admit that she knew they were false. she said if i knew now -- you know, if i knew then what i know now, i wouldn't have done it. but she basically claims she was duped. she said that she was relying on more experienced lawyers like rudy to give her truthful and reliable information and really, she's just

i think jenna ellis is a prime target, but there may be others. there's other stuff in the background. mark meadows and his removal to federal court, whether that will be successful. but it does seem like, as david kelly says, the dominos are approximately falling. there's a lot of wind in the prosecution's sails. >> yeah, and there's many analogies people make. we've seen them. they have legal details in the ballpark, some that are fictionalized. i think the scenes that many people remember from films is the so-called loyalty, omerta. when it starts to break, it's one part self-interest, rational, legal. how does this affect me? people can make decisions in their lives. part of it is often emotional. people are shocked, hurt, even angry that the group that they thought they were all sharing loyalty with has had people start to turn. i know you're a law professor and not necessarily a deep student of human psychology and therapy, but it's relevant, i would argue. i'm curious if you could give us any of your view of how someone like ms. ellis, who

ex-trump attorney jenna ellis pleaded guilty for her role in the scheme to overturn the state east 2020 election results. nick valencia is live outside the fulton county courthouse. what happened? >> reporter: this deal came together very, very quick ly, just like other deals in this case have. there was rumors last week that the defense attorneys were in discussions with the district attorney's office here in fulton county. but we never were able to confirmation. then this morning, during a stakeout, we saw one of the lead prosecutors for the d.a.'s enter the courtroom alongside defense attorneys, all the similar trappings of past plea deals. we had an indication that was what was going to happen. i was the only respond in court to her her apology. he was unprecedented, the first time we heard from one of the codefendants in the case speak in open court. before she opened her mouth, we could tell it was going to be emotional. >> what i did not do but should have done is to make sure the facts the other lawyers alleged to be true were true. i value election integrity. if i knew then wha

experience with deep remorse. >> reporter: in a tearful turnaround, former trump campaign lawyer jenna ellis admitted to making false statements that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent. >> if i knew then what i know now, i would have declined to represent donald trump in these post-election challenges. >> reporter: ellis became the third attorney associated with trump to accept a plea deal and could testify against him in the future. she blamed rudy giuliani and others for pulling her into a conspiracy. >> what i did not do but should have done, your honor, was to make sure that the facts the other lawyers alleged to be true were in fact true. >> reporter: meanwhile, trump was part of a drama standoff today in a new york courtroom as michael cohen, his former fixer, sat across from him and accused trump of fraud. >> how does it feel to see donald trump again? >> heck of a reunion. >> reporter: cohen said trump directed him to balloon his net worth and inflate the value of his properties, including trump park avenue and trump world tower, testifying that he was tasked by mr. trump

all agreed to cooperate including some top lawyers and with the initial plea deals, sydney poul, jenna ellis and kenneth chez brothers, the dominoes start to fall and then the prosecutors reach out to others, six others, at least six other co-defendants to see if they want to take deals, people like a campaign official, another pro-trump lawyer, so we're going to wait to see what happens with them, and when you're looking at these the prosecutor as you're trying to get people to plead guilty and take deals, it's good for them because it helps them focus their case against trump the more defendant they can help pick off going to trial, they can help the cooperators get more information and the defendants, you don't want to be last in line standing. you don't want to be the last one standing going to trial because you can get a deal that means no jail time. you can get a lot of benefits of taking a plea deal if you choose to do it early, right now that's where we stand in this case, but we do know from our team of reporters that there are four people right now who haven't been offered plea dea

jenna ellis may be the only one that is fully cooperating. we will see.may also be as cooperative as she appears. i would note, the georgia state judge has recently reversed himself and said he will make public the files. we may learn a bit more. they each wrote an apology to georgia citizens. particularly pleading to something that is so core to the conspiracy. it will be interesting to see what the apology says and what we learned from that. the big news was with respect to the reporting or to mark meadows or whether he was offered immunity by the fed's. if that is the case, he could be a devastating -- . that is on the criminal side. then there is the ongoing civil case that donald trump seems to be showing more interest in than many criminal cases pending. >> that may go to what he knows about the financial hit the companies can take. how leveraged and how much is the shell game. i don't know if you have a cabin in upstate but i guess it's common that they have multiple shell companies housing a single cabin. that is sarcasm. just for anyone that just

fourth of trump's codefendants to plead guilty in georgia has had quite the evolution. >> my name is jenna ellis, and i'm a senior legal adviser to the trump campaign. >> but, she did not always start out as a hard-core trump loyalist. here is ellis when trump first ran for president in 2016. >> why should we rest our highest office in america on a man who fundamentally goes back and forth and really cannot be trusted to be consistent or accurate in anything that he says? >> during the 2016 campaign, i was also used a long list of adjectives to describe trump. quote, idiot, boorish, arrogant, a bully, a fascists, disgusting, unethical, corrupt, liar, dirtbag, treacherous, abusive, unholy, not a real christian, and a criminal. now fast forward to the aftermath of the 2020 election. >> this is an elite strikeforce team that is working on behalf of the president and the campaign to make sure that our constitution is protected. >> now that so-called strikeforce team included ellis, rudy giuliani, and sidney powell. and they blanketed the airwaves with lies, conspiracies, and just flat out bogus info

as jenna ellis began to cry when she pled guilty to the election subversion case in fulton county. now saying she has deep remorse, her words, over representing trump. michael cohen testified in his civil fraud trial. first time in five years that trump and cohen were in same room. a day full of breaking developments here. what else are we learning about meadows making a deal with the special counsel possibly? >> this deal would be extremely important to the prosecution with this trial that's expected to get started in march of next year. now we know that meadows of course was in the room, was with the former president during all those times when he was pushing his claims of voter fraud after the 2020 election. we also know that certainly we've reported that meadows did testify to the grand jury in jack smith's investigation, back in june. what abc news is reporting he's met with the special counsel at least three times and has provided testimony including to the grand jury and that some of that testimony is damning to the former president saying he was dishonest when he claimed ri

. >>> attorney jenna ellis pled guilty. >> sidney powell and kenneth chesebro pled also earlier.e for ellis who pled guilty to felony aiding and abetting false statements. here she is in court this morning. >> what i did not do that i should have done, your honor, is to make sure that the facts, that the other lawyers were in fact true. in the case in attempting to raise challenges to elections in several states including georgia i failed to do my due diligence. i believe in and i value election integrity, if i knew then what i know now, i would have declined to represent donald trump. i look back on it with deep remorse. >> ellis said thanks to fantastical court hearings and blaming it on venezuelans and silicon valley and dead people voting none of which they provided any evidence for. rudy giuliani among the accused, donald trump among the accused as well. and former chief of staff mark meadows and others. the pressure may be growing for more of them to consider a plea deal, did the government is still offering. that's a big if. trump faces felony charges in that case, as well

he was flanked by sidney powell and jenna ellis. plea deals. ellis has been openly critical of trump in recent months. she really soured on him and broke from him in the aftermath of january 6th and the like, perhaps some self-preservation on her part. in terms of the legal case, this is another domino to fall, another person who could be used to testify against someone else further up the food chain. we know this is a huge case with a lot of defendants, nearly two dozen. the top of the list is donald trump. there's no question his legal team will try to discredit whatever jenna ellis has to say, but it's a blow to the former president. >> you look what's happening to these people, again, people that spread all of these lies, the kraken lady, mr. pillow, rudy. gravity does seem to be returning at least for now. >>> let's move onto business. united autoworkers union is expanding its strike to a stellantis plant in michigan as negotiations drag on. nearly 7,000 workers walked off the job yesterday in suburban detroit at a plant that pr

. >> jenna ellis confessing, pleading guilty to a felony.with the prosecutors. she's actually third lawyer within a week to confess to the election crimes. these are the dominos we've been telling you about. instead, on the program recently, we played an excerpt of david kelly talking about the dominos, and we go to him live. in full disclosure, my former boss. welcome back, david. we ran that clip, not because we love you, that might be a side point, but because you were right. how did you know more dominos would fall? >> it's a big deal. you're shaking the trees a bit. it happens in every day, especially a days with this many defendants. it doesn't surprise me, and it's not like anybody is reading a crystal ball, it's just what happened, but in terms of my sense of caution. i'm very excited about the fact that people are pleading guilty, taking responsibility, being held accountable. but a couple things worry me. one, more and more people that take a plea, the more this starts to look like a fire sale, where people aren't serving jail. two

guess in the end, he did teach them all the art of the deal [ cheers and applause that's right, jenna ellisuilty to a criminal charge in the georgia election case, making her trump's fourth co-defendant of the trial to plead guilty you might remember ellis as the least-weird lawyer from this press conference [ laughter ] she's the one sticking out like a normal thumb [ laughter ] she looks like marilyn from the munsters [ laughter ] for the kids, got to put one of those -- [ light laughter ] it's 2023! [ laughter ] michael cohen is set to testify today in a manhattan courtroom against former president trump in his civil fraud trial it's a big deal, even though this picture makes it look like a "people's court" case about the property line between two strip clubs. [ laughter and applause at his rally in new hampshire last night, former president trump appeared to mistake the leaders of hungary and turkey. [ light laughter ] hungary and turkey you know, people come up to me and they say, "oh, the trump jokes must write themselves! and usually, i say, "no, it's hard to write trump jokes. but t

jenna ellis has been saying a lot of stuff, making it sound like she's very ppy she's not getting her lawyers paid for. are we looking at a situation where giuliani, ellis, those are the next dominos where fani willis is looking at? >> that's typically how prosecutors like to work these things, working up the chain. they leapt a few levels here in getting to sidney powell, i think only because she asserted her right to a speedy trial so forced their hand to offer a plea deal a little earlier than they might otherwise have done instead of working their way one by one up the chain. chesebro and powell with their trial date needed to get a plea deal to them before the trial date. now that she's been secured, though, you're right, joy. her testimony does not need to relate solely to those acts that she is specifically accused of. she can talk about anything that she knows that could be what's called substantial assistance against any other defendant or uncharged party in the schemes. so because she, for example, is in that oval office meeting on december 18th of 2020, with giuliani and do

we have to keep in mind that it may not be that jenna ellis or sidney powell or kenneth chesebro or anyerson holds the keys to the kingdom. it may be, as often is the case, you build your evidence, your trial, your proof a document as a time, a witness as a time. for instance, miss ellis was charged with aiding and abetting, among other people, rudy giuliani. maybe her plea leads to another that leads to another. suddenly, you have several witnesses who might be able to testify against donald trump. no one case is built on any one individual. it's built on numerous documents and numerous people. >> chuck, laura, thank you very much. a very busy news day. >>> now we have a speaker designate. tom emmer is now the republican nominee for speaker having gotten a majority of the votes when it got down to head to head. back with us, nbc news senior capitol hill correspondent garrett haake. garrett? >> reporter: it took five ballots, but tom emmer has secured the majority of the republican conference. he will be the next speaker designee, a position that hasn't meant much. he will be the third

they secured plead eels from sydney powell, kenneth chesebro, and just this week, jenna ellis.y are all former attorneys for donald trump. in august, ellis didn't appear to show any regret for her behavior. smiling from ear to ear as she opposed for her mugshot. but she is singing a very different tune. >> i think my responsibilities as a lawyer very seriously and i am a person of sound moral individual -- and all of my dealings. in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, i believe that challenging the results on behalf of president trump should be pursued in a just way. if i knew what i know now, i would've declined to represent donald trump in these postelection challenges. i look back on this whole experience with deeper morris. >> wow. as part of their deals, powell, chesbrough, and a list of all promise not to testify in future trials against their codefendants and that means trouble for, yes, donald trump, the alleged ringmaster of this entire election scheme circus. to witnesses who actually plotted and carried out key aspects of the ex presidents legal strategies --