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Republican activist becomes first person convicted in Arizona fake electors case
A Republican activist who signed a document falsely claiming former President Donald Trump had won Arizona in the 2020 election became the first person to be convicted in the state’s fake elector case.
Loraine Pellegrino, a former 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 have not yet been posted by the court. Still, court records show Pellegrino was sentenced to unsupervised probation. Before the plea, she faced nine felony charges.
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 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. Lawmakers went on to certify Mr. Biden’s win over Trump during a proceeding that began on Jan. 6, 2021, and was delayed after a mob of the former president’s supporters breached the U.S. Capitol.
Prosecutors in Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin have also filed criminal charges related to the fake electors scheme. Ellis, who was also charged in Georgia, pleaded guilty to a single felony charge of aiding and abetting false statements and writing.
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. He is facing state charges in Georgia and federal charges in Washington, D.C., stemming from an alleged scheme to subvert the transfer of presidential power after the 2020 election. The former president and 2024 Republican presidential nominee pleaded not guilty to all charges.
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Trump invites China’s Xi Jinping to inauguration
President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration next month, multiple sources told CBS News, and inauguration officials are making plans for additional foreign dignitaries to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
Trump invited Xi in early November, shortly after the election, sources said, but it was not clear whether he has accepted the invitation. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.
In addition to Xi, the president-elect’s team has raised the possibility of hosting other leaders at the Capitol on Jan. 20. Hungary’s far-right leader, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has a warm relationship with Trump and visited him at Mar-a-Lago this week, is “still considering” whether to attend, according to a source familiar with Orbán’s plans.
“World leaders are lining up to meet with President Trump because they know he will soon return to power and restore peace through American strength around the globe,” Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said.
Ambassadors and other diplomats are typically invited to inaugurations, but State Department records dating back to 1874 show that a foreign leader has never attended a transfer-of-power ceremony.
Members of Trump’s inner circle remain sharp critics of Xi’s government, including Sen. Marco Rubio, his pick to be secretary of state, and incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz.
Trump himself has threatened to increase tariffs on goods from China. The U.S. has imposed a deadline of Jan. 19, the eve of the inauguration, for TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the social media app or face a ban in the U.S. TikTok is fighting the ban in court — it lost a bid last week to block the ban but is appealing the case to the Supreme Court.
But Trump has also long believed that close leader-to-leader relationships are key to international deal-making. Since Election Day, world leaders have trekked to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, has also been granted private audiences with the president-elect.
Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, was the first world leader to host Trump overseas since he won the 2024 election. Also in attendance at the Paris reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral were Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky and Prince William.
Trump was mostly unknown on the world stage at his first inauguration in 2017. This time, world leaders are treating Trump essentially as an incumbent.
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