One of Donald Trump’s fake electors testified Wednesday he’d been tricked into supporting the former president’s bid to reclaim Michigan in the 2020 presidential election, according to a new report.
James Renner, a 77-year-old former state trooper, said in a preliminary hearing for fellow fake electors that he had no idea it was illegal to join the slate of Republicans in a state won by President Joe Biden, the Associated Press reports.
“We were told this was an appropriate process,” Renner reportedly said. “My background was enforcing the law, not breaking the law.”
Renner was among 16 Republicans to act as a fake elector for Trump, but charges against him were dropped last year when he agreed to testify for the prosecution, the report notes.
Renner testified Wednesday he attended a Dec. 14, 2020 meeting at Republican party headquarters in his hometown of Lansing where the group signed forms authorizing them to be electors, according to the report.
A companion sheet stated Trump won the election, Renner reportedly testified.
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The defendants claim they violated no laws by signing the document, but a GOP-led state Senate investigation later confirmed Biden won the state by nearly 155,000 votes over Trump, the report notes.
The Associated Press also notes former Michigan GOP Communications Director Anthony Zammit testified to his belief that a Trump campaign attorney “took advantage” of some of the fake electors.
Michigan was one of seven states Trump’s team set up fake elector slates declaring his disproven victory in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
