2 men face new trial over scheme to kidnap Michigan governor
Two men accused of crafting a plan to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 and ignite a national rebellion are facing a second trial this week, months after a jury couldn't reach a verdict on the pair while acquitting two others. The result in April was a blow to federal prosecutors, who had set out to show that extremists were committed to snatching Whitmer and causing chaos close to the election between Joe Biden and then-President Donald Trump. The trial of Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. means another public airing of secretly recorded conversations, text messages and chilling social media posts.
news.yahoo.comIn outcome of Whitmer case, some see freedom, others danger
That a jury didn't convict any of the four men charged with planning to kidnap Michigan Gov_ Gretchen Whitmer is further evidence of the political polarization in the U_S_ A defense lawyer for one of the men says it shows freedom still exists, and that the men's actions were nothing more than “rough talk.”.
Man who schemed to kidnap Michigan Gov. Whitmer alleges fellow plotters wanted to use a grenade launcher and machine gun to fight her security at her vacation home
Kaleb Franks, who pleaded guilty in February, spoke as a witness in the trial against four other men charged in the Whitmer kidnapping plot.
news.yahoo.comFBI: Accused wanted 'tyrant' Gov. Whitmer tied up on table
A key figure in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov_ Gretchen Whitmer was secretly recorded telling an undercover FBI agent that he wanted to restrain the “tyrant” on a table, then pose for a photo “like we just made the biggest drug bust.”.
FBI: Accused wanted 'tyrant' Gov. Whitmer tied up on table
A key figure in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told an undercover FBI agent that he wanted to restrain the “tyrant” on a table then pose for a photo “like we just made the biggest drug bust," according to a secret recording played for jurors Thursday. Agent Mark Schweers told the jury that he was posing as someone with like-minded views from Michigan's Upper Peninsula when he met Adam Fox in the basement of a vacuum shop in suburban Grand Rapids, a hideaway accessed by a trap door. Fox didn't know that Schweers was wearing a recording device as he talked excitedly about attacking the Michigan Capitol, teaming up with a militia called the Wolverine Watchmen, and restoring a “constitutional republic.”
news.yahoo.comSnapshots of 4 men charged in Whitmer kidnapping plot
After more than two days of testimony, jurors have unflattering snapshots of four men who are charged with planning to strike back against government by kidnapping Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer from her weekend home. Prosecutors introduced videos, messages and secretly recorded conversations full of antigovernment screeds, mostly expressed by Barry Croft Jr. and Adam Fox, who are described as the leaders. Evidence presented early in what's likely to be a weekslong trial has bounced from Michigan to gatherings in Ohio and Wisconsin and an arrest in New Jersey — and not always in order.
news.yahoo.comJury hears man discuss plan to abduct Mich. Gov. Whitmer
Prosecutors in the trial of four men charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday played covertly recorded audio for jurors in which one of the men specifically discusses a plan to abduct the Democrat. In the recording, made by a government informant during a meeting in mid-July 2020 in Wisconsin, Barry Croft Jr. describes the possibility of using explosives to “rain down” fire on law enforcement “with a team standing by” to abduct Whitmer. In another recording made by the same informant, jurors heard the sound of an explosives test Croft was conducting.
news.yahoo.comLawyers: FBI lured men for Michigan Gov. Whitmer kidnap plot
The four men charged with planning to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer were swayed by informants and federal agents who targeted them for their anti-government views, defense attorneys said Wednesday, portraying the men as big talkers and wannabes who never meant what they said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Roth argued that the men were “willing, eager, if not already preparing” to get Whitmer before investigators infiltrated the group. Investigators stepped in and stopped a “tragedy” when the men were planning to acquire a bomb to blow up a bridge near Whitmer’s home to stop police from quickly responding, Roth told jurors during his opening statement in federal court in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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