In a significant development in Arizona’s fake electors case, Loraine Pellegrino, a prominent Republican in the state has become the first person to be convicted. Pellegrino, a former president of the Ahwatukee Republican Women, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of filing a false document in an effort to help Donald Trump overturn the election results.
Pellegrino was initially facing nine felony charges. Her guilty plea comes as part of a broader investigation involving 17 other individuals who had signed a certificate falsely asserting that Trump won Arizona in the 2020 election. The actual winner was Joe Biden, who secured the state by 10,457 votes.
She was sentenced to unsupervised probation, according to a statement from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. It’s unclear if Pellegrino is now helping prosecutors as the court has not yet made her plea records public.
Joshua Kolsrud, Pellegrino’s attorney, stated, “Loraine Pellegrino’s decision to accept a plea to a lesser charge reflects her desire to move forward and put this matter behind her.”
In related news, Jenna Ellis, a former attorney for Trump, has reached a cooperation agreement with prosecutors. She is seeking to have her charges dismissed. Other key figures in the case, including Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows, have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, fraud, and forgery.
The fake electors scheme involved Pellegrino and 10 others, who convened in Phoenix on December 14, 2020, to sign the false document. This document was subsequently sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was disregarded.
Criminal charges related to the fake electors scheme have also been filed in Michigan, Nevada, Georgia, and Wisconsin. In Arizona, charges have been brought against 11 Republicans who falsely declared Trump as the winner, alongside five lawyers linked to the former president and two former aides.
While Trump himself has not been charged in Arizona, he is referenced as an unindicted co-conspirator in the indictment.
