Michigan militia involved in plot to kidnap governor, FBI says

DETROIT — Six men were arrested and accused of plotting with a militia group to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, the authorities announced Thursday.

The men, some of whom the FBI said had discussed overthrowing the government, had been discussing taking Whitmer, a Democrat, hostage since at least the summer, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court and unsealed Thursday.

Several of the men had talked about creating a society in which they could be “self-sufficient” and one said he wanted 200 men to storm the Statehouse in Lansing, Mich.

The men gathered over the summer for firearms training, combat drills and tried to make explosives, Richard J. Trask II, an FBI special agent, said in the criminal complaint.

In July, one of the men said the group should take Whitmer hostage and move her to a “secure location” in Wisconsin for a “trial,” the agent said.

Members of the group surveilled her vacation home in August and September, and they indicated that they wanted to take her hostage before the presidential election in November, according to the complaint.

The FBI said it believed that the men had planned to buy explosives this week for their attempt. Some of the information in the criminal complaint came from encrypted messages intercepted by the FBI, as well as undercover agents and confidential informants.

All six men — five of whom live in Michigan and one of whom lives in Delaware — were charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping, which can carry a life sentence.

Whitmer has been the subject of attack from right-wing protesters for measures she imposed to control the spread of the coronavirus. In April, U.S. President Donald Trump openly encouraged such protests, tweeting, “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”