Judge: Cases against 5 in Whitmer plot can proceed

Prosecutors provided enough evidence to move toward trial for five Michigan men accused of plotting to kidnap the state’s governor because of her measures to control the spread of the coronavirus, and they will all remain held without bond, a federal judge ruled Friday.

A two-day preliminary hearing in Grand Rapids this week featured testimony by one of the FBI agents who ran the investigation, relying on confidential informants and undercover agents to thwart the purported scheme to abduct Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Berens said the five men’s cases can go to a grand jury.