Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office has dismissed the charges against one of the 16 people who allegedly signed a document falsely claiming Donald Trump won the state’s electoral votes in 2020 during an effort to overturn the results of the election.
The decision came after the alleged fake elector, James Renner, agreed to "cooperate fully" with the attorney general's investigation.
Renner was charged with eight felony counts, including election law forgery and conspiracy to commit election law forgery. At a court hearing Thursday morning, Assistant Attorney General LaDonna Logan moved to drop all charges “based on an agreement between the parties.”
Technically, presidents are voted in by slates of electors who cast their votes for the candidates selected by their states’ popular votes. As Trump tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, his allies readied slates of electors in multiple states.
The group of 16 Republicans met in December 2020 in the basement of the Michigan GOP headquarters, where they signed a certificate stating they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified electors," prosecutors said.
“That was a lie,” prosecutors said in the charging documents, adding that “they weren’t the duly elected and qualified electors, and each of the defendants knew it.”
A copy of the cooperation agreement with Renner, obtained by NBC News, shows he promised to “cooperate fully” with the attorney general’s office on Oct. 10, agreeing to testify at trial and key hearings if called and provide investigators with “any and all relevant documents.”
The document indicates Renner promised to provide information connected to the key Dec. 14, 2020, meeting where the fake elector certificates were signed.
Specifically, Renner has agreed to provide information related to his being called and asked to appear at Michigan Republican Party headquarters, appearing at party headquarters and attending a meeting for the “Republican Slate,” as well as his identifying leaders of the meeting and other attendees and signing the “2020 Republican Slate” document and circumstances regarding his walking to the Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, according to the document.
Renner’s attorney Clint Westbrook declined to comment on the details of the agreement but confirmed “all charges against our innocent client, Jim Renner, were dismissed.” “
We are excited for this result,” he said in court.
The Michigan attorney general’s office also declined to comment on the details of the agreement.
Michigan was the first state to charge people with involvement in trying to join slates of “fake electors” as electoral counts were tallied in state capitals across the country after the 2020 election.
All 16 defendants initially pleaded not guilty.
President Joe Biden won Michigan in 2020 by more than 150,000 votes.
