Indicted fake electors at “The Signing” in Arizona on Dec. 14, 2020. (Republican Party of Arizona/X). Inset: Lorraine Pellegrino (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office).
Amid scrutiny by the congressional Jan. 6 committee into Donald Trump‘s alleged fake elector scheme in Arizona two years ago, Republican activist Lorraine Pellegrino deflected on her role in advancing the phony certificates, saying she just wanted to spend her “golden years becoming more active in the political process.”
On Tuesday, she pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of filing a false instrument.
That false instrument was the fake certificate declaring Trump had won electoral votes in Arizona despite his defeat by President Joe Biden. Pellegrino can be seen in a 2020 video shared publicly by the Republican Party of Arizona on the social media platform X in which she and others, including former Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward, are seen presenting themselves as legitimate electors at “The Signing,” as Law&Crime previously reported.
Pellegrino was initially facing multiple charges including felony fraud, conspiracy and forgery.
In a statement to the press on Tuesday through her attorney Joshua Kolsrud, Pellegrino said she opted to take a lesser misdemeanor charge and accept a sentence of unsupervised probation with community service because of her “desire to move forward and put this matter behind her.”
“She has taken fully responsibility for her actions, demonstrating her commitment to upholding the law and contributing positively to the community,” Kolsrud said.
Only a day before prosecutors reached a deal with Pellegrino, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that Pellegrino’s fellow fake elector in Arizona, Trump darling and conservative attorney Jenna Ellis, signed a cooperation agreement.
As Law&Crime reported, Ellis saw four felony counts dropped in exchange for her plea and in the process, according to Mayes, the embattled attorney swung the door open to a “significant step forward in our case.”
“Her insights are invaluable and will greatly aid the State in proving its case in court. As I stated when the initial charges were announced, I will not allow American democracy to be undermined — it is far too important. Today’s announcement is a win for the rule of law,” Mayes said.
Ellis was facing nine felonies including fraud, forgery and conspiracy in Arizona. Ellis had already pleaded guilty to charges in the election subversion case in Georgia where Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis alleged that she and more than a dozen others, including Donald Trump, were engaged in a scheme and pressure campaign to subvert that state’s rightful electoral results. In Arizona, prosecutors claim Ellis and Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Boris Epshteyn, John Eastman and Christina Bobb — to name just some of the 18 individuals indicted — acted similarly and worked to deprive Arizona residents of their right to have their votes counted.
Pellegrino recently served as president of the Arizona Federation of Republican Women and has served as president of Ahwatukee Republican Women. She was a secretary for the group of self-proclaimed “alternate electors” for Trump in Arizona.
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