Trump attorney was fired as Colorado prosecutor for ‘unsatisfactory performance,’ contradicting earlier claims

Donald Trump’s attorney Jenna Ellis, part of a legal team that has launched an unsuccessful challenge to the 2020 presidential election results, was fired from her role as a Colorado county prosecutor in 2013 for “unsatisfactory performance” after making ”mistakes on cases the employer believes she should not have made,” according to documents obtained by The Colorado Sun.

Ms Ellis, who worked as a deputy district attorney in Weld County for roughly six months, “did not follow proper protocol” adhering to the Victims Rights Act, according to documents from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

The documents appear to contradict statements Ms Ellis made to The Wall Street Journal, which reported that she was fired for refusing to bring a case to trial “she believed was an unethical prosecution.”

State and federal Victims Rights Act protections ensure victims are aware of cases against their assailants.

Ms Ellis refused to comment to The Sun, and the Trump campaign dismissed the report as a “nonstory from a decade ago.”

She is set to appear at a hearing with Republican lawmakers in Colorado on Tuesday to discuss election integrity, though there are no verified reports of voter fraud in that state or elsewhere in the US.

The documents obtained by The Sun reveal that Ms Ellis sought unemployment benefits following her termination. The Weld County District Attorney’s Office appealed a decision granting her benefits to the state’s labour department.

Following a hearing, the department ruled that Ms Ellis was “not at fault for the separation from this employment” and was granted benefits.

A hearing officer found that her errors were “few when compared to the total number of cases handled" by Ms Ellis overall.

“The number of cases in which [Ms Ellis] committed an irreparable, egregious act was not significant compared to the total number of cases she processed,” according to the documents. ““There were some deficiencies in her education and experience that account for some of the errors she committed while learning on the job under high volume conditions.”

Ms Ellis, who along with Rudy Giuliani is part of a self-described “elite strike force” filing dozens of lawsuits across the US, most of which have been withdrawn or dismissed, including twice by the Supreme Court.

Both Mr Giuliani and Ms Ellis, who have appeared without masks at press conferences and hearings with GOP lawmakers across the US, have contracted Covid-19. Less than a week after appearing alongside the lawyers at a news conference in November, campaign adviser Boris Epshteyn announced he had tested positive for the disease. That day, Mr Giuliani and Ms Ellis travelled to a hearing in Pennsylvania to address Republican lawmakers.