It has been noted that one of the Republicans in Michigan, who acted as a fake elector for Donald J. Trump expressed deep regret about his participation, according to a recording of his interview with the state attorney general’s office that was obtained by The New York Times.
James Renner, the elector, is the only one who has worked out a deal with Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office, which filed criminal charges against all 16 of the state’s fictitious Trump electors in July. After Mr. Renner consented to cooperate, Ms. Nessel’s office dismissed all allegations against him in October.
In December 2020, Mr. Renner, then 77 years old, was added to the list of electors after two other electors withdrew. He informed the attorney general’s office that he and the other electors had behaved inappropriately, which he discovered later on after going over testimony from the House investigation of the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.
“I can’t overemphasize how once I read the information in the J6 transcripts how upset I was that the legitimate process had not been followed,” he said in the interview. “I felt that I had been walked into a situation that I shouldn’t have ever been involved in.”
Mr. Renner’s lawyer, Matthew G. Borgula, had no comment.
At this point, investigations are being conducted in several states, including Arizona and New Mexico, and charges have been filed against fictitious electors in Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada. Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, which encompasses Atlanta, have charged Mr. Trump, the former president, and other important friends for their attempts to maintain his authority after his loss in 2020, going far beyond the electors themselves. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s special counsel, Jack Smith, has charged Mr. Trump with meddling in the election.
In Michigan, Ms. Nessel, a Democrat, has only charged the electors, but has said her investigation is still open. During their interview of Mr. Renner, her investigators asked about a number of other people involved, including Shawn Flynn, a lawyer who worked with the Trump campaign on the ground in Michigan, and Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyer. (Mr. Giuliani is among those charged in Georgia; both he and Mr. Trump have pleaded not guilty.)
