A Republican activist who signed a document falsely claiming Donald Trump had won Arizona in 2020 became the first person to be convicted in the state’s fake elector case.
Loraine Pellegrino, a past president of the group Ahwatukee Republican Women, has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of filing a false document, Arizona Attorney General’s Office spokesperson Richie Taylor said Tuesday, declining to comment further. Records documenting her guilty plea haven’t yet been posted by the court. Still, court records show Pellegrino was sentenced to unsupervised probation. Before the plea, she faced nine felony charges.
Pellegrino’s attorney, Joshua Kolsrud, said in a statement that his client acknowledges her “remorse and willingness to make amends.”
Seventeen other people had been charged in the case, including 10 other Republicans who had signed a certificate saying they were “duly elected and qualified” electors and claimed Trump had carried Arizona in the 2020 election. President Joe Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes. Joshua Kolsrud, an attorney representing Pellegrino, said in a statement that his client has accepted responsibility for her actions. “Loraine Pellegrino’s decision to accept a plea to a lesser charge reflects her desire to move forward and put this matter behind her,” Kolsrud said.
On Monday, former Trump’s campaign attorney Jenna Ellis, who worked closely with his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, entered a cooperation agreement with prosecutors who have asked for her charges to be dismissed. The remaining defendants, including Giuliani and Trump presidential chief of staff Mark Meadows, have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges.
Pellegrino and 10 other people who had been nominated to be Arizona’s Republican electors had met in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign the false document. A one-minute video of the signing ceremony was posted on social media by the Arizona Republican Party at the time. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored.
Prosecutors in Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin have also filed criminal charges related to the fake electors scheme.
Arizona authorities unveiled the felony charges in late April. Overall, charges were brought against 11 Republicans who submitted the document falsely declaring Trump had won Arizona, five lawyers connected to the former president and two former Trump aides.
Trump himself was not charged in the Arizona case but was referred to as an unindicted co-conspirator in the indictment.
-
Rep. David Marshall resigned from the Arizona Legislature on Friday, days after the Navajo County Board of Supervisors appointed him the next county recorder — an appointment that could face legal challenges over claims it violates the state Constitution. -
A Superior Court judge found the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors illegally took away Recorder Justin Heap’s information technology team and must give that staff back in an order that resolves a yearlong battle over control of the county’s elections. -
Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs is outraising her Republican opponents several times over ahead of this year’s primary elections. And Congressman David Schweikert is trailing far behind his Democratic and Republican opponents. -
Republicans angling to replace Arizona’s governor, attorney general and secretary of state all have a history of amplifying President Donald Trump’s disproved claims about fraud in the 2020 election. -
An Arizona judge last month ruled the newly-named Arizona Independent Party could not call itself that, and needed to revert back to what it used to be known as: the No Labels Party; the party chair said he’d appeal.
