Though McCotter had decided to run for reelection in his congressional district, he failed to qualify for his district's Republican primary after the majority of his petitions were declared fraudulent. An investigation of the campaign by the office of the Michigan Attorney General ensued.[62] Steve Kornacki suggested the fraud may have been related to the presidential campaign, if it "caused him to take his eye off the ball on his House reelection,"[2] but McCotter rejected this as an "idiotic line of thinking."[3] He initially hoped to wage a write-in campaign, but decided against it, finding he could not run the campaign while cooperating with the investigation and serving the remainder of his term in Congress.[4] A month later, he resigned from Congress, claiming this was needed to fully assist with the petition fraud investigation.[63] The investigation found that in addition to the 2012 petitions, McCotter's Congressional reelection petitions from 2006, 2008, and 2010, also showed evidence of fraud.[64] McCotter sued two aides accusing them of intentional sabotage.[65] Eventually, four aides, including one who was sued, were charged and convicted of violations related to the fraud.[66]