Man accused of being a false voter in Arizona will cooperate with prosecutors

PHOENIX – One of the 18 defendants charged in Arizona’s fake voter case has changed his mind and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, state Attorney General Kris Mayes announced Monday.

Jenna Ellis, a former lawyer for Donald Trump, is the first defendant in the high-profile case to reach such a deal.

Mayes said she was grateful to Ellis and called the settlement “a victory for the rule of law.”

Ellis was charged with helping orchestrate a plot to overturn Trump’s 2020 re-election loss to Joe Biden.

In April of this year, a grand jury indicted seven Trump aides and 11 alleged fraudulent electors on nine felony counts of fraud, conspiracy and forgery. Trump was not charged in the case but is named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the indictment.

All of the defendants, including Ellis, previously pleaded not guilty in the case.

On Monday, Mayes filed a motion to dismiss the charges against Ellis in exchange for her cooperation. Prosecutors can refile charges if she fails to comply with the terms of the agreement.

“This settlement represents a significant step forward in our case,” Mayes said in a news release. “I thank Ms. Ellis for her cooperation with our investigation and prosecution. Her insights are invaluable and will greatly assist the State in proving its case in court. As I said when the initial charges were announced, I will not allow American democracy to be undermined; it is too important. Today’s announcement is a victory for the rule of law.”

What are those accused of being false electors in Arizona charged with?

The allegations date back to when Republicans in Arizona and six other states Trump lost signed fake Electoral College certificates in a failed scheme to keep Trump in office.

The alleged fraudulent electors—Kelli Ward, Tyler Bowyer, Nancy Cottle, Jake Hoffman, Anthony Kern, Jim Lamon, Robert Montgomery, Samuel Moorhead, Lorraine Pellegrino, Gregory Safsten, and Michael Ward—met on December 14, 2020, and signed documents falsely claiming to be “duly elected and qualified electors.”

The singing. image.twitter.com/6gPsfqrk7T

— Arizona Republican Party (@AZGOP) December 14, 2020

At the time, Ward was chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, which posted a video of the signing on social media. Hoffman and Kern are both currently state senators. Hoffman won his Republican primary last week in his quest for reelection, and Kern will leave office at the end of the year after losing in a congressional primary.

Trump advisers still facing charges — former chief of staff Mark Meadows; attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Boris Epshteyn, John Eastman and Christina Bobb; and former campaign aide Mike Roman — are accused of facilitating the plot.

Prosecutors in Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin have also filed criminal charges related to similar voter fraud schemes.

In October, Ellis pleaded guilty to a felony charge of aiding and abetting false statements and writings in the Georgia case. He was barred from practicing law in Colorado for three years following his Georgia plea.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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