KALEB FRANKS

A second trial is underway for two men accused of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

A jury has been selected in the second trial of two men charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer over their disgust with restrictions early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

A jury last week couldn't reach a unanimous verdict for two men charged with a conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Jurors acquitted two men and deadlocked on two others accused of plotting to abduct Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020.

Jurors have gone home without reaching a verdict after the first day of deliberations in the trial of four men accused of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Jurors have heard closing arguments and will begin deliberations Monday in the trial of four men charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The defense has rested and evidence is over in the trial of four men charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The core question at the trial of four men charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is whether the FBI engaged in entrapment.

An FBI agent who was working undercover says two key people in the plot to kidnap Michigan's governor were excited to get their hands on explosives.

Kaleb Franks, who pleaded guilty in February, spoke as a witness in the trial against four other men charged in the Whitmer kidnapping plot.

Defense attorneys are trying to show the jury that there was no credible plot, just a lot of profane, violent and crazy talk.

Jurors in Grand Rapids, Michigan, now have heard from two men who said they were all-in on a stunning plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

A second man who pleaded guilty in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer admitted Friday that he lied at times after being arrested in 2020 because he didn't want to go to jail. Kaleb Franks was questioned by defense attorneys a day after testifying for prosecutors in the trial of four former allies charged with conspiracy. Franks acknowledged telling investigators that the alleged leader, Adam Fox, was regularly egged on by a man who turned out to be an FBI informant.

WHITMER PLOTTER SAID HE WANTED ‘SUICIDE BY POLICE’

Jurors in Grand Rapids, Michigan, are hearing from a second man who pleaded guilty in a scheme to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

A man charged with planning to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was jubilant in 2020 when the state Supreme Court struck down COVID-19 orders.

Prosecutors have played covertly recorded audio for jurors in which a man charged in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer specifically mentions abducting the Democrat.

Attorneys for four men charged with planning to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are telling jurors they were swayed by informants and federal agents who targeted them for their anti-government views.

A jury has been selected for the trial of four men charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

They railed against politicians, conducted military-style exercises and spoke darkly of confronting tyrants scheming to seize their guns and enslave them. “I don't think they were dangerous," said Vinyard, an Eastern Michigan University professor emeritus and author of a book about far-right movements in the state. In contrast to militants from before, who mostly avoided bloodshed with the horrific exception of the Oklahoma City bombing, some modern successors have taken a more radical and potentially violent turn.

A second man has pleaded guilty in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The plea deal outlined in court documents suggests Kaleb Franks could offer crucial testimony against the four remaining defendants in the case.

Records show another man charged in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has agreed to plead guilty.

Defense attorneys have sought to dismiss the indictment against five men accused of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer because of what they describe as “egregious overreaching” by federal agents and informants.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Berens said the five men's cases can go to a grand jury, which will determine whether to issue indictments. Berens on Tuesday denied bond for the three other Michigan residents charged in the case: Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta. Agent Richard Trask testified that members of anti-government paramilitary groups from several states discussed abducting Whitmer or Virginia Democratic Gov. Authorities found conversations among group members in which they were worried that federal authorities had infiltrated their planning sessions, he said. Berens found that the information presented showed the men had a unified purpose — to kidnap Whitmer — allowing the case to move forward.

A judge ordered three of six men charged in the case held without bond until trial, delaying rulings on two defendants. It wasn’t immediately clear if talk of targeting Virginia’s Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, continued beyond the meeting. Trask, the FBI agent, testified that authorities learned of the June meeting in Ohio while investigating various anti-government groups. Some defendants conducted surveillance of her northern Michigan house in August and September, according to the complaint. Michigan, and particularly the Detroit area, were hit hard early during the pandemic, leading Whitmer to tightly restrict personal movement and the economy.

The Department of Justice today announced that six men have been arrested and charged federally with conspiring to kidnap the Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer. Through confidential sources, undercover agents, and clandestine recordings, law enforcement learned particular individuals were planning to kidnap the Governor and acting in furtherance of that plan. This group used operational security measures, including communicating by encrypted messaging platforms and used code words and phrases in an attempt to avoid detection by law enforcement. The FBI and Michigan State Police executed arrests as multiple conspirators met to pool funds for explosives and exchange tactical gear. Agents of the Detroit Field Office of the FBI and other members of their Joint Terrorism Task Force, including the Michigan State Police, are conducting the investigation.