(Bloomberg) -- State prosecutors in Atlanta secured a fourth guilty plea in their election fraud case against Donald Trump when attorney Jenna Ellis admitted she aided and abetted false statements relating to the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Ellis, 38, cried as she read a statement Tuesday in state court in Atlanta about false statements she made in support of efforts to sow doubt on the outcome of the election in Georgia and other states. She said she relied on more experienced lawyers to guide her in trying to overturn President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Ellis worked extensively with Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani. 

“What I did not do but should have done was make sure the facts that the other lawyers alleged to be true were in fact true,” Ellis said. “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 episode with deep remorse.”

The felony plea by Ellis is another victory for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who secured an indictment of Trump and 18 others on racketeering and other charges related to the election. Last week, attorneys Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro also pleaded guilty on the eve of their scheduled trial. Like Ellis, they agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and testify at any trial, raising the prospect that other codefendants may also agree to provide evidence against Trump and others. With all their pleas, prosecutors dismissed racketeering and other charges against them. 

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Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said Ellis must serve five years probation, pay $5,000 in restitution and apologize to the people of Georgia. 

Ellis, who once described herself as part of an “elite strike force” fighting for Trump after the election, often spoke to the media and lawmakers after the election. She joined Giuliani in promoting pro-Trump electors in states that he lost, including Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, according to the indictment. She also wrote a memo outlining a strategy to disrupt the Electoral College certification in Congress. 

In a court filing Tuesday, prosecutors said Ellis aided false statements by Giuliani and others at a hearing before Georgia lawmakers on Dec. 3, 2020. They falsely asserted 96,600 mail-in ballots were counted in the election, 10,315 dead people voted, 2,506 felons voted illegally, and 2,423 unregistered people cast ballots, according to the filing, which Ellis admitted. 

Trump attorney Steve Sadow said in statement that Willis and her team had reached a fourth plea deal that resulted in a sentence of probation and dismissal of charges under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.  

“What that shows is this so-called RICO case is nothing more than a bargaining chip for Willis,” Sadow said. “Moreover, this plea was to a completely separate charge, not a part of the original indictment, which doesn’t even mention President Trump.”

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The sweeping indictment by Willis claims that the defendants went too far in their support of Trump by attempting to reverse his loss even after it was verified by multiple recounts. She alleges they pressured Georgia officials to reject valid votes, organized fake presidential electors for Trump to prevent the certification of Biden’s victory, intimidated poll workers and stole election machine data in rural Coffee County.  

“You could have other defendants in any of these subplots start to come forward looking for deals and pleas,” said Gwen Keyes Fleming, a former district attorney in nearby DeKalb County. “There is always a time element in whether to plead early in a case to get a more favorable deal versus waiting and seeing what happens at trial. I would imagine more defendants are starting to have discussions with the DA’s office.”

In her statement, Ellis said she’s a Christian who takes her responsibilities as a lawyer “very seriously.” 

Ellis was formally censured earlier this year by the Colorado Supreme Court after admitting to making 10 misrepresentations about the 2020 election. Ellis, who is from Colorado, agreed with a disciplinary judge that she repeatedly misrepresented facts on social media and national television, including by claiming the presidential election had been stolen and that Trump “won in a landslide.”

--With assistance from Erik Larson.

(Updates with statement by Trump’s lawyer.)

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