PHOENIX — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) reached a cooperation agreement Monday with Jenna Ellis, who was a legal adviser to Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign and was one of 18 defendants indicted in April on felony charges related to alleged efforts to try to subvert President Biden’s victory in the state four years ago, according to prosecutors.

The attorney general has agreed to drop nine felony charges against Ellis in exchange for her full cooperation with the investigation into the GOP plan to try to deliver Arizona’s 11 electoral votes to Trump instead of the rightful winner, Biden.

The deal allows Ellis to avoid potential jail time in exchange for providing prosecutors with evidence that could implicate other defendants. She could provide information about former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani’s knowledge and participation in the elector strategy. According to the agreement, Ellis has also agreed to “completely and truthfully” testify in any future trials. She will also provide documents and any other material tied to the elector strategy that could help state prosecutors secure verdicts favorable to them in the high-profile case.

“This agreement represents a significant step forward in our case,” Mayes said in a statement. “I am grateful to Ms. Ellis for her cooperation with our investigation and prosecution. Her insights are invaluable and will greatly aid the State in proving its case in court.”

An attorney for Ellis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Arizona was one of seven states won by Biden where Republican electors gathered on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign certificates purporting to affirm Trump as the actual winner of each of the states. Trump supporters were preparing to cite the paperwork signed by the GOP electors as a way to challenge Biden’s win when Congress convened on Jan. 6, 2021, according to prosecutors.

Authorities in several of those states, including Arizona, have pursued criminal charges against the electors. All of the defendants in the Arizona case pleaded not guilty, including the 11 Republicans who allegedly falsely purported Trump won the state, Giuliani and Boris Epshteyn, a key adviser to Trump’s 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns. They are each charged with nine felony counts, including conspiracy, forgery and fraudulent schemes and artifices.

The Arizona case was the second round of charges for Ellis and several others in the case, who were also indicted alongside Trump in Georgia last year. Ellis pleaded guilty in October to illegally conspiring to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia and has been cooperating with prosecutors.

In Arizona, Ellis sat down with prosecutors on June 17 for a proffer session, according to the agreement — an interview in which a prosecutor and a defense lawyer meet with a person to decide whether they have valuable information to offer an investigation, the kind that could lead to a plea deal. Such meetings are often called “queen for a day” sessions because the person being questioned will not have their answers used against them, unless they lie.

In the critical time frame after Trump’s loss, Ellis was in touch with figures central to the elector strategy outside of Arizona and within, according to the April indictment and other publicly released records.

Ellis joined Giuliani, then a personal attorney to Trump, in presenting baseless claims of widespread malfeasance in states Trump lost. She accompanied Giuliani to Phoenix for a meeting, where unfounded claims of election fraud were circulated as Trump dialed in to speak to the crowd. Ellis was also by Giuliani’s side during a meeting with then-Arizona House Speaker Russell “Rusty” Bowers (R), who testified before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack that Giuliani repeatedly sought to persuade him to help overturn Trump’s 10,457-vote defeat in the state.

“We’ve got lots of theories, we just don’t have the evidence,” Bowers recalled Giuliani telling him and others present.

Devlin Barrett contributed to this report.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s lavish travel provided by Republican donor Harlan Crow included two more flights aboard the billionaire’s private jet that were not publicly disclosed, according to a letter Monday from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to Crow’s attorney.

Wyden, the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, wrote that he is seeking additional information about travel that Crow provided to the justice and additional records because he is concerned that Crow might have improperly used the gifts to lower his tax bills, a claim Crow denies.

The two flights add to a long list of travel and other perks Thomas has received from Crow, including private school tuition for a relative and the purchase of the home where Thomas’s mother lived in Georgia.

The largesse and other ethics controversies swirling around the court prompted President Biden to propose a biding ethics code and 18-year term limits for the justices last week, a package of overhauls that has little chance of passing Congress at the moment.

“The questions I’ve been asking of Mr. Crow and Justice Thomas about these luxury trips and lavish gifts are not really all that complicated,” Wyden said in a statement to The Washington Post. “How many of these trips happened, and when it comes to Mr. Crow’s taxes, is everything on the level or did he claim a whole lot of personal travel as write-offs?”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection documents show Thomas and his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, took a roundtrip flight from Hawaii to New Zealand aboard Crow’s private jet in November 2010, according to the letter. Crow was onboard the flights.

It was unclear how the Thomases traveled to Hawaii or how they got home.

Wyden wrote that Thomas has not listed the flights in financial disclosure forms that Supreme Court justices are required to file, even though he has previously amended the forms to include other travel aboard Crow’s jet.

Thomas did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He has said disclosure rules at the time of the travel did not require him to report the flights because they fell under a “personal hospitality” exemption. Justices are now required to report such travel.

Michael Zona, a spokesman for Crow, said in a statement that Wyden’s inquiries are “intended to harass a private citizen” and that Congress has no role in tax enforcement.

“Mr. Crow and his businesses are in good standing with the IRS,” Zona said. “He has always followed applicable tax law as advised by national accounting firms who serve as his tax advisors. It’s concerning that Senator Wyden is abusing his committee’s powers as part of a politically motivated campaign against the Supreme Court.’

Donald Trump on Monday called rapper Ye a “really nice guy” who is “complicated” but has “a good heart,” praising the celebrity whose antisemitic remarks in recent years has drawn widespread condemnations and led many companies to cut ties.

Trump was widely criticized in 2022 for having dinner with Ye and the far-right activist Nick Fuentes despite their antisemitic comments. On Monday, Trump seemed to allude to the controversy surrounding Ye — formerly known as Kanye West — during a lengthy interview with online streamer Adin Ross.

“He’s very complicated,” Trump said as Ross prompted him for reactions to public figures pictured on a screen. Trump said the rapper “can get himself into trouble” along with “some other people.”

“But, you know, he’s got a good heart,” Trump said. “He does, he does, but he’s complicated, Kanye.”

Ye’s antisemitic statements cost him much of his business empire in 2022. At one point, the rapper said on social media that he planned to go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” Later, speaking to the far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, he said he liked Adolf Hitler and praised Nazis.

Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung noted Trump’s support for Israel and policy achievements including the Abraham Accords and said the former president has fought antisemitism “in America and abroad.”

“As President Trump said, this individual is a complicated person who gets himself into trouble,” Cheung said, referring to Ye. “Kamala Harris talks out of both sides of her mouth to appease Hamas sympathizers while Democrats have emboldened antisemitic protests on college campuses.”

The interview also raised the possibility of campaign finance violations when Ross gave Trump two lavish gifts: a Rolex watch and a custom Cybertruck wrapped in an image from the moments after the assassination attempt on Trump last month. Elon Musk — the chief executive of Tesla, which produces the Cybertruck — has endorsed Trump.

Individual contributions to candidates for federal office are capped at $3,300. Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said they would “submit an advisory opinion to the FEC to seek guidance on how to handle the gifts.” The Federal Election Commission declined to comment on the gifts to Trump. Representatives for Ross did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Daniel Weiner, director of the elections and government program at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit law and public policy institute at New York University School of Law, said Ross probably landed himself in hot water with his gifts.

“Since Trump is a candidate, he’s subject to federal contribution limits, which are in the neighborhood of $3,000 per individual per election,” Weiner said. “A contribution isn’t limited to cash. It can be an in-kind contribution, which is a thing of value. A Cybertruck is a thing of value, as is a Rolex. It’s pretty simple.”

“If it’s not Mr. Ross himself that’s giving these gifts but his company or something, then it gets more complicated,” Weiner added. “Although corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money independently on electoral advocacy, corporations are still barred from giving directly to campaigns. And so, I would argue that if it’s a corporation presenting these expensive gifts to a candidate, that’s probably illegal.”

Two years ago, Trump’s meal with Ye and Fuentes drew pushback from across the political spectrum. Matt Brooks, chief executive of the Republican Jewish Coalition, criticized the “virulent antisemitism” of Trump’s dinner guests and said, “We … call on all political leaders to reject their messages of hate and refuse to meet with them.” A representative for RJC did not immediately respond to an inquiry Monday evening.

Ross, the streamer who interviewed Trump, is also deeply controversial. He previously hosted Fuentes, who has denounced “perfidious Jews” and said those “suppressing Christianity … must be absolutely annihilated.” The streamer once responded to a discussion of gender pronouns by saying his pronouns are “kill / them.”

Trump praised the 23-year-old Ross effusively on Monday, saying he heard about the streamer from his youngest son, Barron. “Dad, he’s really big,” Trump recalled Barron remarking. After Ross urged his viewers to “go out there and vote, and vote for the right person,” Trump marveled that Ross had gone further than many other interviewers in showing support. Behind them, about two dozen supporters listened and cheered periodically, as if they were at a rally.

“Outstanding, to do what you’ve done at a young age,” Trump told Ross.

Trump and Ross spent the final part of their hour-and-a-half-long hangout sitting in the Cybertruck listening to music.

Trump’s conversation with Ross was wide-ranging. He criticized Vice President Harris by unfavorably comparing her with potential running mates: “All of the people she’s looking at are considered much better than her,” Trump said, adding that he thinks “virtually every one of them is considered better, smarter, would be a better president than her.”

Harris is expected to name her running mate Tuesday ahead of a scheduled multistate tour with the vice-presidential pick.

Harris’s campaign ridiculed Trump’s appearance with Ross in a statement, branding it “low energy” and saying Trump “spent the hour lying about his record and attacking the media instead of speaking to the issues young voters care about.”

Trump repeatedly attacked ABC News reporter Rachel Scott, who pressed Trump on past offensive comments last week at the National Association of Black Journalists convention. He called her “nasty,” “rude” and “horrible” and said that if he owned the network, he would fire her.

Patrick Svitek contributed to this report.

Vice President Harris holed up at her residence at the Naval Observatory on Monday to finalize the selection of her running mate, perhaps the biggest decision of her nascent campaign, as plans coalesced for the joint campaign swing that Democrats hope will generate excitement for the ticket this week.

Harris met Sunday in Washington with at least three finalists: Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota. After the running-mate announcement, which is expected to include several online components, including a video, Harris and her newly minted election partner plan to launch a multistate tour with a rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday night.

As strategists in both parties awaited the selection — on which an enormous amount of strategy, messaging and advertising will depend — a Harris campaign spokesperson, Kevin Munoz, said just before 4:30 p.m. Monday that Harris had not yet made her decision.

The campaign was nonetheless moving forward with plans for the national campaign swing. The trip is set to start in Philadelphia before heading to Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada through Saturday.

Harris’s campaign schedule has been unusually compressed, since President Biden ended his reelection bid on July 21, and Democrats are hoping the five-day tour will help sustain the enthusiasm that has so far accompanied her campaign, enabling her to ride Democrats’ excitement into the party convention beginning Aug. 19.

The campaign announced that the indie folk group Bon Iver would perform at the second stop in the campaign tour, Wednesday in Eau Claire, Wis. Last week, the rapper Megan Thee Stallion performed at Harris’s rally in Atlanta.

A stop later in the week in Savannah, Ga., was postponed because of Hurricane Debby, which made landfall in Florida on Monday morning and is expected to move up the East Coast.

In the meantime, the Harris campaign has been using the highly anticipated announcement to raise money, telling supporters they could be among the first to know the identity of the running mate if they donate at least $20. Such donors would be able to “join an exclusive live stream with the Vice President and her running mate,” according to recent emails to supporters, which did not give any timing for the live stream.

Other Democratic leaders were awaiting the news, anxious to see which of their colleagues would be catapulted onto the national stage.

“She has a wealth of talent from which to choose,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said Monday on MSNBC. He said that he personally knows all the governors Harris is considering and that each would be “tremendous.” He also praised Kelly and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

“I’ve not been for outside pressure from anyone because this is a very personal choice for her,” Cooper added. “This has to be a governing and campaigning partner for her. She needs to make that decision. She knows what being a vice president is all about, so I think she’s got the best perspective of all.”

Cooper took himself out of consideration as Harris’s running mate early in the process. He explained Monday that he was concerned that if he’d been compelled to leave the state for long stretches to campaign, it would allow North Carolina’s Republican lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, who is known for highly inflammatory statements and is running to succeed Cooper, to seize the stage.

The final hours of Harris’s selection process were defined by intense jockeying on the part of various Democratic factions. Some progressives were pushing for Walz over Shapiro, citing the Pennsylvanian’s sometimes hard-hitting comments about pro-Palestinian protesters. Shapiro, who is Jewish, has compared some of the college protesters to the Ku Klux Klan and encouraged the University of Pennsylvania to break up encampments of pro-Palestinian protesters.

Some of Walz’s backers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), were set to take part in a “Progressives for Harris” call Monday night to rally support for her.

The home stretch of Harris’s search has also seen close attention paid to the schedules of possible running-mate contenders, as strategists on all sides hunt for clues on whom she might choose. Buttigieg, for example, is scheduled to begin a trip to Maine on Tuesday in his official capacity, suggesting that, at least for now, he is not making plans to be part of the running-mate reveal.

The selection will finalize the Democratic ticket at a remarkably late date, capping a period of almost unheard-of turmoil in the presidential campaign. Just three weeks ago, Biden was widely assumed to be the Democratic nominee, having announced a reelection bid and swept through the party’s primaries, and the vice president was set to reprise her role as his running mate.

All that changed when Biden, facing enormous pressure from inside his own party following a stumbling performance in a debate against former president Donald Trump on June 27, stepped aside, shaking up the race and making way for Harris as his likely replacement.

Republicans are gearing up for another jolt to the race with Harris’s selection. Trump’s campaign announced Monday that his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), would make stops effectively following Harris and her running mate as they take their tour through swing states around the country, starting with a Tuesday afternoon visit to Philadelphia before the new Democratic ticket makes its debut there.

A major task for Harris’s running mate will be taking on Vance, including in a possible vice-presidential debate.

Trump, in a media appearance Monday, criticized Harris as “ultra left, ultra radical,” comparing her unfavorably to the Democrats she has been mulling as potential vice-presidential candidates.

“In fact, all of the people she’s looking at are considered much better than her,” Trump told online streamer Adin Ross, adding that fellow Democrats “didn’t want to go through this roadblock” of challenging the sitting vice president. “… I think virtually, every one of them is considered better, smarter, would be a better president, than her.”

Harris had no public events on her calendar Monday. She participated in a private meeting with Biden and his national security team in the Situation Room to discuss tensions in the Middle East.