'Betrayed is an understatement': Michigan fake elector says he was duped by GOP officials
A Republican fake elector in Michigan told investigators of his regret for trying to swing the 2020 vote for Donald Trump — and said officials “betrayed” him by exploiting his ignorance.
In a recording of an interview obtained by the New York Times, James Renner said it was only after he heard testimony from the House’s January 6 investigation that he realized he’d acted illegally.
“I was accepting the individuals that were in authority” knew “what they were talking about,” Renner said in the interview.
But, after he and another 15 fake electors were sued in civil court in January this year, he started reading House transcripts involving the scheme he was accused of being a part of.
“It was only then that I realized that, hold it, there is an official state-authorized process for this,” he said. “I had never been an elector, I had never discussed it with anybody. I was used to a much more informal process at the county level. And so that’s when I became suspicious of what had gone on... what happened was not legitimate.”
“I am very upset,” he went on. “I don’t show it, but I am. … Betrayed is an understatement. That’s all I can say.”
Criminal charges against Renner, including forgery and conspiracy, were dropped after he agreed to cooperate with Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. He is the only one of 16 people hit with the charges in July to have them dropped.
Renner, 77, was added to the roster of electors in December 2020 after two others dropped out. He said he had never been an elector before, but was asked to do so by the head of the county Republican Party after somebody else dropped out.
ALSO READ: Why 'it’s the economy, stupid' no longer applies
“I felt that I had been walked into a situation that I shouldn’t have ever been involved in,” he said in the interview.
Charges have now been brought against fake electors in Georgia, Michigan and Nevada, with investigations ongoing in Arizona and New Mexico.
In the interview, Renner was asked about several people involved in the scheme including Trump lawyer Shawn Flynn, who worked on Trump’s campaign in the state, and the then-president’s former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Trump has not been charged with any crime in the state, though The Detroit News last week released a recording that showed him pressuring two canvassers not to certify the result, which could be evidence of his role in trying to overturn it.