Jenna Ellis, a top legal adviser for the
Trump campaign, has remained steadfast in her support for
President Trump in the days post-election, as he refuses to concede the race to President-elect
Joe Biden. But she wasn't always so fond of the commander-in-chief,
CNN reports.
Back when Trump was running for the first time in 2016, Ellis made several comments on her
Facebook page and on local
Colorado radio shows deriding him. Writes CNN, she, at one time or another, described Trump as an "idiot," a "bully," and "dirtbag," while also arguing that he did not espouse
American or Christian values. During a 2016 radio appearance, while referring to Trump seeking stricter libel laws, she said he was "one of the greatest threats to our liberty."
Ellis also went after his supporters, writing that she "could spend a full-time
Job just responding to the ridiculous illogical, inconsistent, and blatantly stupid arguments supporting Trump" before stating that his backers didn't "care about facts or logic."
Of course, stories like this haven't been uncommon throughout the Trump era — there are numerous people in his administration, as well as now-loyal lawmakers, who had strong words for the president before he took office before eventually becoming prominent defenders of his leadership — and Ellis said in a statement Wednesday that she had changed her mind over time. But
NBC News' Benjy Sarlin makes the case that Ellis' comments and posts, particularly those that alluded to a potential authoritarian streak, are especially damaging, given that she's boosting his efforts, based on unfounded claims of voter fraud, to overturn the results of an
election he lost. Read more at CNN.