- Michigan Republican James Renner is accused of participating in an election fraud conspiracy after the 2020 presidential election.
- Renner testified Wednesday that he did not understand the election process and had no intention of creating false public records.
- Renner said he believed the process was appropriate and would have challenged it had he known it was illegal.
A Michigan Republican accused of participating in an election fraud conspiracy after the 2020 presidential election testified Wednesday that he did not know how the election process worked and had no intention of creating false public records. .
“We were told this was due process,” James Renner, 77, said at a preliminary hearing for six other electors facing charges including forgery.
Renner, who worked for the state police in the 1970s, said if he had known any part of the process was illegal, “I would have challenged it.”
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“My background is enforcing the law, not breaking the law,” he testified under cross-examination by one of the elector’s attorneys.
A demonstrator waves a Trump flag during a rally organized by the Election Integrity Fund and the group Force at the Michigan State Capitol on October 12, 2021 in Lansing, Michigan. The 2020 presidential candidate testified Wednesday that he did not know how the election process worked and had no intention of creating a false public record. (Jake May/Flint Journal, via AP, File)
Attorney General Dana Nessel said Renner, from Lansing, was one of 16 Republican members of Congress who acted as a fake elector for then-President Donald Trump.
Charges against Renner were dropped last year after he and the state attorney general’s office reached a cooperative agreement. He was called by prosecutors to testify Wednesday.
Renner, who has served as a district delegate and volunteer for the Michigan Republican Party, said he attended a meeting held at party headquarters in Lansing on Dec. 14, 2020, along with other electors. He was asked to replace the canceled elector. They signed documents authorizing them to become electors. Renner testified that there was an attached document claiming that Trump won the election.
Renner added that it is his understanding that the Republican electoral roll will be used if Trump is later deemed to have won.
Fake electors in Michigan and six other battleground states submitted certifications to Congress that falsely declared Trump the winner of the state’s election, despite the results confirming Trump’s loss. Sent to. Georgia and Nevada also prosecuted fake electors. Fake electors in Wisconsin admit Joe Biden won the election and that their efforts are part of an effort to unfairly overturn 2020 results Agreed to a legal settlement.
Dan Schwager, who served as general counsel to the Senate secretary from 2020 to 2021, testified Tuesday that fake voting certificates were submitted to the U.S. Senate after the election. But Schwager said the purported voting certificate did not match the official document signed by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, which included the Michigan state seal.
When Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the charges last July, she said the fake electors met in the basement of the state’s Republican Party headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020, and that they were “duly elected and qualified electors.” He signed his name on multiple certificates proving his identity.” president and vice president. ”
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Voting certificates are opened by the vice president and votes are counted by members of Congress.
The defendants insist their actions were not illegal, even though Biden won by about 155,000 votes over Trump in Michigan, a result that will lead to a Republican-led 2021 state. confirmed in a state Senate investigation.
In December, former Michigan Republican Party communications director Anthony Zammit testified that he believed Trump campaign lawyers had “taken advantage” of some of the 15 Republican senators.
A preliminary hearing does not involve a jury, and a judge decides whether there is enough evidence to prove the charges.
The case was adjourned because the seventh defendant, Kenneth Thompson, did not have a lawyer. Preliminary questioning of the remaining eight defendants will be held at a later date.
