Jenna Ellis, who was part of former President Trump’s legal team that led fruitless crusades to overturn the 2020 election results, is going after the Republican National Committee following a report on officials questioning efforts to push the big lie of a “stolen” presidential election.
In an excerpt of journalist Michael Wolff’s upcoming book on the waning days of Trump’s presidency published in Business Insider, the then-President’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani threw a fit at RNC chief counsel Justin Riemer for expressing skepticism over Trumpworld’s efforts to challenge the election results.
According to Wolff, Ellis was at dinner with Giuliani when Riemer emailed her a note that reportedly questioned Trump’s bogus claims of election fraud.
“In the note, Riemer reportedly wrote to his RNC colleagues asking why they were backing Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud, while also expressing that the organization raised more cash battling Democrats than challenging election results,” Wolff wrote, according to Business Insider.
Ellis reportedly passed her phone around to Giuliani and everyone else at the dinner table, which included former New York City police commissioner Bernie Kerik, to read Riemer’s note. The email from Riemer to Ellis reportedly left them “stunned,” according to Wolff.
Giuliani was reportedly enraged with Riemer.
“Can you f*cking believe this,” Giuliani reportedly said in response to Riemer’s email. “They are backdooring us … doing everything in their power not to help us.”
Wolff reported that Giuliani got Riemer on the phone in the middle of dinner to lambast the RNC chief counsel.
“The mayor, sitting in the restaurant but in full battle mode (and with a few drinks in him), damn well got Riemer himself on the phone: ‘Who the f*ck do you you think you are? How can you be going against the president? … You need to resign and resign tonight … because you are going to get fired,” Giuliani told Riemer, according to Wolff.
Giuliani then reportedly called RNC head Ronna McDaniel to demand that Riemer be fired.
In a statement to Business Insider, an RNC spokesperson denied the spat between Giuliani and Riemer.
“As is typical with most things Michael Wolff writes, this story is simply false,” the statement said, according to Business Insider. “The RNC legal team fought tooth and nail on election integrity efforts for the entirety of 2020, and that continues today.”
Ellis tweeted a combative statement directed at McDaniel in response to the RNC’s denial of the anecdote.
This report is true @GOPChairwoman, and you know I have the receipts.
Why is the RNC lying and saying it’s false?https://t.co/Fn5fcyt8ln
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) July 11, 2021
About an hour later, Ellis tweeted that McDaniel blocked her on Twitter.
Update. I guess she doesn’t want to be confronted about the RNC lying.#RonnaMustGo https://t.co/lUZUKpuXpN pic.twitter.com/qHdloHUriQ
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) July 11, 2021
Ellis continued bashing McDaniel the next day, calling for the RNC chair’s ouster.
Holding people accountable isn’t a concept liberal snowflakes or RINOs are familiar with. Conservatives are principled. #RonnaMustGo
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) July 12, 2021
This isn’t the first time Ellis has gone after Republican officials who had been reluctant to do Trump’s bidding to push the big lie.
Last month, Ellis took aim at former Attorney General Bill Barr after The Atlantic published an excerpt of the book “Betrayal” by ABC News reporter Jon Karl. Barr reportedly claimed that he suspected all along that Trump’s election fraud falsehoods were “all bullshit,” but gave the green light for prosecutors to investigate the unsubstantiated claims because he wanted to appease the then-President who refused to concede the election.
Buried deep in the Atlantic piece is this real gem.
To my knowledge, Barr never interviewed one witness or reviewed one affidavit.
He simply formed a conclusion, sandbagged Trump’s effort to get to the truth, and let the clock run out. pic.twitter.com/Xc7uEeM8wB
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) June 27, 2021
Ellis’ grievances with the RNC and Barr come as more Republicans embrace falsehoods of widespread election fraud that Trump continues to push.
The handful of Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for “incitement of insurrection” faced censures from Republicans in their home states. The party’s embrace of the big lie ultimately escalated to Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-WY) ouster as the third-ranking Republican for her refusal to back down on her vehement criticism of Trump following her vote to impeach the former president after the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
