AJC:

Federal investigators have interviewed several Georgia Republicans who refused to join a phony slate of GOP electors to help Donald Trump’s failed effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

The interviews, first reported by CNN, involved at least one Republican who decided to take his name off the electoral list, along with one other activist who rejected an offer to join the group. In all, four Republicans decided not to join the slate of 16.

Patrick Gartland said investigators pressed him on whether he talked to Trump or Rudy Giuliani, the former president’s attorney. He said they “probably left disappointed” when he told them he had no interaction with them or other top GOP figures.

“Basically, they thought I was doing it because I was mad Trump lost,” said Gartland, who said he decided not to join the slate because his wife died, not because of any political reason. “I told them I know a lot of somebodies but that I was a nobody.”

Jason Shepherd, a former Cobb GOP chair, was also interviewed by federal investigators who sought specific documents after Oct. 1, 2020 that were related to discussions on the alternate slate of electors.