Royal Oak — The criminal charges against Matt DePerno, a past Republican nominee for attorney general, and former state Rep. Daire Rendon reached a delay Friday as DePerno protested the release of a string of text messages he was involved in after the 2020 election.

The messages were sent among a group called "Michigan Forensics," prosecutors said a day earlier, and were privately exchanged as DePerno and multiple so-called cybersecurity experts explored and advanced unproven theories that technology flaws somehow influenced President Donald Trump's loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

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