By Richard Ruelas | Arizona Republic
Two Arizonans who signed a document falsely declaring they were empowered to cast the state’s electoral votes for former President Donald Trump were subpoenaed Friday by a Congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump lost the 2020 election in Arizona. Yet, 11 Republicans met at the Arizona Republican Party headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020, and signed a document that said they were “duly elected and qualified” electors for Arizona.
In total, seven states sent slates of alternate electors to the U.S. Senate.
The Select Committee of Congress subpoenaed the chairperson and secretary from each of those seven states who signed the certificates making the false claim.
In Arizona, the chairperson was Nancy Cottle; the secretary was Loraine Pellegrino.
Neither could immediately be reached for comment.
Who was behind it?:A fake, pro-Trump slate of 2020 electors sent their votes to Congress
In a previous January interview, Pellegrino told the Republic that she didn’t like being called an alternate elector. She said she was simply an elector for Trump and cast a vote on Dec. 14, just as she would had Trump carried Arizona.
“We were electors for Trump and we were hoping things would change,” said Pellegrino, who has been an Arizona delegate at the past three national Republican conventions. “Just in case, we signed our paperwork to be ready in the event that something was overturned.”
The subpoenas sent to Cottle and Pellegrino said that the Select Committee wished to inquire “about your role and participation in the purported slate of electors casting votes for Donald Trump and, to the extent relevant, your role in the events of January 6, 2021.”
The subpoenas ask for the women to turn over documents relevant to the inquiry by Feb. 11, and that the two sit for depositions on Feb. 16.
