Jenna Ellis hosts election denier and fellow former Trump lawyer Cleta Mitchell to spread election misinformation
Since being indicted in April for her alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Arizona, Ellis has hosted Mitchell at least twice on her radio show
Written by Payton Armstrong
Published
Jenna Ellis has hosted election denier and former Trump lawyer Cleta Mitchell on her radio show at least twice following Ellis’ recent indictment for her alleged role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election in Arizona. During the appearances, Mitchell and Ellis spread misinformation about noncitizens voting in the November 2024 election, with Mitchell alleging that this is part of “the Democrat secret plan to win this year.”
Mitchell is an election denier and former Trump attorney who leads the Election Integrity Network — which is a “coalition” of right-wing, election-denying activists that has reportedly recruited and trained poll watchers to seemingly monitor elections for alleged fraud. According to The Intercept, Mitchell “played a central role in the effort to stop the certification of the election in Georgia and beyond.”
Mitchell also reportedly “helped funnel money to groups working on the partisan Arizona ballot review that Trump and his allies have twisted to advance their false narrative” about voter fraud.
Ellis, who is also a former Trump attorney, pleaded guilty in October 2023 to charges for her role in former President Donald Trump’s scheme to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. In April, Ellis was indicted by an Arizona grand jury and is “accused of organizing an attempt to use fake documents to persuade Congress not to certify Joe Biden’s victory.”
Since being indicted in Arizona, Ellis has hosted Mitchell on her American Family Radio program at least twice. In these appearances, Ellis and Mitchell fearmongered about noncitizens voting in elections, which mirrored recent messaging from right-wing media and Republican politicians. Experts and media outlets have repeatedly debunked noncitizen voting as “extremely rare” — including in Arizona specifically.
On June 13, Ellis hosted Mitchell on her radio program, praising Mitchell for “doing really great work ... on all of the important voter issues heading into 2024” and noting that Mitchell has been on the program “to talk about all of the Democrats' push to get the right to vote to illegals.” Ellis said that noncitizen voting “ultimately undermine[s] our ability as American citizens,” and that “we should be the only ones that are voting in elections.”
Discussing the upcoming election, Mitchell warned listeners that “there are no post-election remedies available to us anymore,” citing “the post-election of 2020 [when] we had courts ruling that President Trump … did not have standing to bring election challenges to his own election.” Mitchell also cited “what happened in Arizona when Kari Lake and Abe Hamadeh filed challenges to their elections” in 2022, noting that there’s “still a court challenge pending for the Republican attorney general candidate of Arizona.”
Ellis also hosted Mitchell on May 9, and they fearmongered about noncitizens voting in the November election, including in Arizona. Mitchell and Ellis pushed rhetoric echoing the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which posits “that nonwhite individuals are being brought into the United States and other Western countries to ‘replace’ white voters to achieve a political agenda.” Mitchell baselessly claimed that there are “left-wing socialist organizations that are bringing these illegals into communities all over the country” and “giving them voter registration,” asserting that she thinks it’s “the Democrat secret plan to win this year.”
Mitchell said that in Arizona, there are “people that are allowed to vote who cannot prove that they're citizens.” Ellis said that “according to the Census Bureau [there are] over 21,700,000 potential noncitizen voters,” and that “if even a fraction of those potential noncitizen voters actually engage in voting in 2024, that has the potential to swing a lot of elections.”
Mitchell told Ellis that noncitizens voting in the November election has “the potential” to “completely wreck America as a constitutional republic.” Ellis ended the interview by claiming that Democrats are “undermining our constitutional republic,” thanking Mitchell “for bringing this to our attention,” and urging her listeners to “call your members of Congress” about noncitizen voting.
Ellis also hosted Mitchell on February 1, just months after Ellis pleaded guilty in Georgia and before she was indicted in Arizona. In that appearance, Mitchell raised fears of noncitizens voting in November, including in Georgia. During the interview, Mitchell said that noncitizen voting is a “huge threat.” Ellis later said, “It seems like the left just doesn’t want any rules at all, and if they want rules, they want to manipulate the rules so that the outcome is that they win.”