PHOENIX (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s campaign attorney Jenna Ellis, who worked closely with his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, will cooperate with Arizona prosecutors in exchange for charges being dropped against her in a fake electors case, the state attorney general’s office announced Monday.
Ellis has previously pleaded not guilty to fraud, forgery and conspiracy charges in the Arizona case. Seventeen other people charged in the case have pleaded not guilty to the felony charges — including Giuliani, Trump presidential chief of staff Mark Meadows and 11 Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring Trump had won Arizona.
“Her insights are invaluable and will greatly aid the State in proving its case in court,” Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a statement. “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.”
Eleven people who had been nominated to be Arizona’s Republican electors had met in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign a certificate saying they were “duly elected and qualified” electors and claimed Trump had carried the state in the 2020 election. President Joe Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes.
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.
Last year, Ellis was charged in Georgia after she appeared with Giuliani at a December 2020 hearing hosted by state Republican lawmakers at the Georgia Capitol during which false allegations of election fraud were made. She had pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings. The cooperation agreement signed by Ellis in the Arizona case requires her to provide truthful information to the Attorney General’s Office and testify honestly in proceedings in any state or federal court. Prosecutors can withdraw from the deal and refile charges if Ellis violates the agreement.
Prosecutors have already asked a court to dismiss the Arizona charges against Ellis. It wasn’t immediately clear if a judge had yet approved the request.
The Associated Press left messages with Ellis’ attorney, Matthew Brown, after the agreement was announced Monday. Mel McDonald, a retired lawyer and former Arizona U.S. Attorney and judge in metro Phoenix, said cooperation agreements like the one signed by Ellis are common in Arizona state courts and are typically given to insiders who can explain how a crime unfolded.
“You need someone who is part of it to fill in the blanks,” said McDonald, who isn’t involved in the Arizona case.
While not a fake elector in Arizona, prosecutors say Ellis made false claims of widespread election fraud in the state and six others, encouraged the Arizona Legislature to change the outcome of the election and encouraged then-Vice President Mike Pence to accept Arizona’s fake elector votes.
The indictment said Ellis, Giuliani and other associates were at a meeting at the Arizona Legislature on Dec. 1, 2020, with then-House Speaker Rusty Bowers and other Republicans when Giuliani and his team asked the speaker to hold a committee hearing on the election.
When Bowers asked for proof of election fraud, Giuliani said he had proof but Ellis had advised that it was left back at a hotel room, the indictment said. No proof was provided to Bowers.
Ellis also is barred from practicing law in Colorado for three years after her guilty plea in Georgia.
Prosecutors in Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin have also filed criminal charges related to the fake electors scheme.
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.
FILE - Jenna Ellis reads a statement inside Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee's Fulton County, Ga., courtroom, Oct. 24, 2023, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, Pool, File)
FILE - Jenna Ellis speaks with her attorney Franklin Hogue after Ellis plead guilty to a felony count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings, Oct. 24, 2023, inside Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee's Fulton County, Ga., courtroom in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, Pool, File)
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A union leader freed from prison Monday after serving time for her part in a strike against Cambodia’s biggest casino has vowed to continue the labor action until justice is done.
Chhim Sithar was sentenced in May 2023 to two years' imprisonment for incitement to commit a felony, including time served before her conviction, in connection with the strike against the NagaWorld casino, the longest such labor action in the country's history.
She had been leading a strike of hundreds of workers that began in December 2021 to protest mass layoffs and alleged union-busting at the casino in the capital, Phnom Penh, and was arrested and charged after a January 2022 demonstration of dismissed employees who were demanding to be rehired.
NagaWorld in late 2021 had fired 373 employees during financial struggles related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to The Associated Press at her home shortly after her release, Chhim Sithar vowed to continue leading the strike.
"About our advocacy fighting for union rights at NagaWorld, we will continue holding strike action until we get a solution. That’s the position we have determined since the first strike,” Chhim Sithar said, sitting on the floor surrounded by relatives.
“Unfortunately, as of today, after nearly three years, our workers have still not gotten justice. Therefore, as long as there’s no justice, our struggle continues,” she said.
After Chhim Sithar’s arrest, some dismissed workers continued to hold regular protests, appealing for her release and to get their jobs back. However, the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training announced in December 2022 that more than 200 others had accepted compensation under the labor law and dropped their demands.
“Despite relentless efforts by authorities to suppress the strike — including sexual harassment, physical assaults, and judicial harassment — the LRSU strike continues in Phnom Penh,” the Cambodian human rights organization LICADHO noted Monday.
NagaWorld is owned by a company controlled by the family of late Malaysian billionaire Chen Lip Keong. The company received its casino license in 1994 and the property is a huge integrated hotel-casino entertainment complex.
Previous labor union actions in Cambodia were usually at factories in outlying areas or in industrial estates in other provinces. The protest by the NagaWorld workers in the capital was unusually high-profile and drew police action that was sometimes violent.
Last year, the U.S. State Department named Chhim Sithar among 10 recipients of its annual Human Rights Defender Award. She was described by the then-U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia W. Patrick Murphy as “a courageous and tenacious labor union leader who peacefully advocates for the rights of Cambodian workers.”
Cambodia’s government has long been accused of using the judicial system to persecute critics and political opponents. Prime Minister Hun Manet succeeded his father last year after Hun Sen ruled for four decades, but there have been few signs of political liberalization.
Chhim Sithar, right, a union leader being freed from prison after serving time for her part in a strike against the country’s biggest casino, speaks to her supporters at a club on the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Chhim Sithar, a union leader being freed from prison after serving time for her part in a strike against the country’s biggest casino, speaks to her supporters at a club on the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Chhim Sithar, president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld, gestures as she meets her supporters in a club at the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after the union leader was freed from prison on Monday after serving time for her part in a strike against the country's biggest casino. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Chhim Sithar, second from right, president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld, sits near her mother, center, as she meets her staff members in her sister's home at the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after the prominent union leader freed from prison on Monday after serving time for her part in a strike against the country’s biggest casino. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Chhim Sithar, second from right, president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld, meets with her mother, center, and her staff members in her sister's home at the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after the prominent union leader freed from prison on Monday after serving time for her part in a strike against the country’s biggest casino. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Chhim Sithar, president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld, smiles as she meets her staff members in her sister's home at the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after the prominent union leader freed from prison on Monday after serving time for her part in a strike against the country’s biggest casino. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
