Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer was widely criticized for her strict lockdown rules that many said violated the Constitution because it stopped them from being able to work
Thirteen men have been arrested over two alleged plots to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer and incite a ‘civil war’.
Six of the men were taken into custody in a raid on a house in suburban Detroit on Thursday morning. They have been named as Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, Brandon Caserta and 24-year-old Ty Garbin.
The FBI says they conspired to kidnap Whitmer at her family’s vacation home in Michigan.
Another seven men have been charged by Attorney General Dana Nessell for allegedly plotting to overthrow governments, attack the Michigan State Capitol and incite a ‘civil war’.
Those seven men are members of a militia known as Wolverine Watchmen.
They are; Paul Bellar, 21, Shawn Fix, 38, Eric Molitor, 36, Michael Null, 38, William Null, 38, Pete Musico, 42, and Joseph Morrison, 42.
The men were all referred to as extremists on Thursday at a press conference where FBI agents and prosecutors shared details of the plot.
According to authorities, the first group of men started plotting in early June, carried out surveillance on her home and practiced shooting and combat drills. They also tried to build their own explosives, according to the FBI affidavit.
The FBI discovered the plot through an informant who is also part of a known militia that the men tried to recruit from as part of a wider effort to ‘take’ the state capitol with 200 people.
Fox and Croft were the ringleaders, according to the affidavit.
They ‘agreed to unite others in their cause’ to ‘overthrow’ multiple state governments that they believe are violating the US. Constitution’.
Grab the f***** Governor. Just grab the b***h’
In one of the alleged meetings, he talked about kidnapping Whitmer as she made her way into her vacation home, and told one of the other men: ‘Grab the f***** Governor. Just grab the b***h’.’
The alleged plot began with a meeting where the men discussed forming their own ‘self-sufficient’ society in early June.
‘At one point, several members talked about state governments they believed were violating the US Constitution, including the government of Michigan and Governor Gretchen Whitmer,’ the FBI affidavit claimed.
The men then tried to recruit members of the Michigan militia group to help, the affidavit claims.
In one phone call that the FBI informant recorded on June 14, Fox said he needed 200 men to storm the Capitol building in Lansing and take hostages including the Governor.
He said they would ‘try the State Government for treason’ and that he would do all of this before the election.
On June 20, the men met at Fox’s store in Grand Rapids.
They held a meeting in the basement which was accessed through a trap door, hidden under a rug. Fox then made them all put their cell phones in a box which he took upstairs. The FBI informant was wearing a wire.
Whitmer and her husband’s vacation home in Michigan, where the group had carried out surveillance
The FBI were seen raiding the property in Detroit on Thursday morning. FBI agents filed their affidavit hours later
Six people were arrested in the early morning raid, that was the result of information an informant who is infiltrated in the militia gave the Feds
At that meeting, the men discussed using ‘Molotov cocktails’ to attack police and take the Capitol Building.
They also discussed meeting again to practice firearms and tactical training.
On June 25, Fox live streamed a video on a closed Facebook group where he ranted about Whitmer, calling her a ‘tyrant b***h’.
He said: ‘I don’t know, boys, we gotta do something. You guys link with me on our other location system, give me some ideas of what we can do.’
On June 28, Fox, his girlfriend, Garbin, Franks and Caserta attended a training exercise in Munich, Michigan, at one of the Militia member’s houses.
Franks left afterwards. Fox, Garbin, Caserta and the informant remained. They were told to leave though if they did not want to participate in the attacks against the government and politicians.
Between July 10-12, the group attended a different training exercise in Wisconsin.
Whitmer was widely condemned in Michigan for enforcing a lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19. Above, protesters on April 15 storming the state capitol with guns
They practices shooting and combat drills and, according to the FBI, some of them tried to build IEDs with ‘black powder, balloons, a fuse, and BB’s for shrapnel’.
‘They were faulty and didn’t detonate as planned but the attempted explosions were recorded on video.’
On July 18, some of the men met again in Ohio and discussed attacking a Michigan State Police facility. Garbin then discussed ‘shooting up’ Whitmer’s vacation home.
That day, he also said he did not want to go after the Capitol but was ‘cool’ with trying to kidnap her from her vacation home.
On July 27, Fox told the informant that their best chance of kidnapping Whitmer would be as she was arriving or leaving her vacation home or the Governor’s summer residence.
He said it was a ‘snatch and grab’, and told the informant: ‘Grab the f****n’ Governor. Just grab the b***h. Because at that point, we do that dude, — it’s over.’
Later that day, on a group chat, he wrote: ‘OK, how’s everyone feeling about the kidnapping?’
None of the others replied.
According to the FBI affidavit, the men planned to then move her to a secure location in Wisconsin, where they would put her on ‘trial’ but they did not have a location in mind, and planned to use a realtor to find the safe house.
Whitmer was widely criticized for her tough lockdown rules in Michigan earlier this year.
There were widespread protests in the state by people who said they wanted the right to continue to work, including by some who stormed the state capitol with guns.
Her residence has received security updates in recent weeks.
On Thursday morning, three hours before the FBI announcement, Trump called Whitmer the ‘lockdown queen,’ having previously called her ‘that woman from Michigan.’
He told Fox Business News’ Maria Bartiromo: ‘I won Michigan, which hadn’t been won in decades and decades.
‘And we should win it again because I brought so much business there because she’s the lockup queen.
‘What she’s done to that, that place is horrible. She’s locked it up. She’s got people like living in prison. The courts just overturned her. They said what you’re doing is unconstitutional.’