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2 Arizona women under investigation in connection to fake Trump electors
According to the official canvass of the November 2020 election by the Arizona Secretary of State's office, both Cottle and Pellegrino would have served as official electors for Trump, had Trump won Arizona's electoral votes. However, since President Biden carried Arizona, electors for Biden were selected instead.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection subpoenaed more than a dozen individuals Friday who it says falsely tried to declare Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 election in seven swing states.
The panel is demanding information and testimony from 14 people who the panel says allegedly met and submitted false Electoral College certificates declaring Trump the winner of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, according to a letter from Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chairman of the panel. President Joe Biden won all seven states.
In Arizona, the committee has subpoenaed Nancy Cottle and Loraine B. Pellegrino. Cottle was listed as the chairperson of the so-called alternate electors for Arizona, while Pellegrino was listed as the secretary.
According to the official canvass of the November 2020 election by the Arizona Secretary of State's office, both Cottle and Pellegrino would have served as official electors for Trump, had Trump won Arizona's electoral votes. However, since President Biden carried Arizona, electors for Biden were selected instead.
"We believe the individuals we have subpoenaed today have information about how these so-called alternate electors met and who was behind that scheme," Thompson said in the letter. "We encourage them to cooperate with the Select Committee’s investigation to get answers about January 6th for the American people and help ensure nothing like that day ever happens again."
The baseless claims of election fraud from the ex-president and his allies fueled the deadly insurrection on the Capitol building that day as a violent mob interrupted the certification of the Electoral College results.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a CNN interview this week that the Justice Department has received referrals from lawmakers regarding the fake certifications, and that prosecutors were now "looking at those."
Arizona attorney shares his take on the investigation
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Capitol riot investigation committee subpoenas fake Trump electors in Arizona
The panel is demanding information and testimony from 14 people who the panel says allegedly met and submitted false Electoral College certificates declaring Trump the winner of Arizona, among other states.
Dan Barr, a constitutional attorney in Arizona, says, "I’m sure all these Republicans wish Donald Trump had won Arizona, but he didn’t."
He says the women created a false document that falsely claimed that they were electors when they weren’t.
"The January 6th committee wants to find out, was there a coordination with the Trump White House here? Was there any coordination with the 6 other states that were doing this? Were they following some plan that had been provided to them by the Trump white house? Or were these people simply acting on their own?" Barr explained.
He adds, "I mean, as a legal matter, it’s pretty clear what’s happening here and these people have admitted it … they said ‘Yeah, I signed this and this is why I did it.’"
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