FBI: Groups also discussed kidnapping Virginia’s governor
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Members of anti-government paramilitary groups implicated in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor over measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus during a fraught election year also discussed abducting Virginia’s governor, an FBI agent testified Tuesday.
During a hearing in a Grand Rapids federal court to review the evidence against Adam Fox, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta, Magistrate Judge Sally Berens ordered Franks, Harris and Caserta to be held without bond until the trial and said she’s rule on the other men’s bond requests on a later date. A sixth defendant from Delaware, Barry Croft, was ordered Tuesday to be transferred to Michigan to face the charges.
Berens’ ruling came after a day-long hearing in which FBI agent Richard Trask revealed new details about investigators’ use of confidential informants, undercover agents and encrypted communication in the alleged plot aimed at Michigan’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer.
The FBI discovered the June 6 meeting in Dublin, Ohio, during an investigation of various anti- government groups, leading to the months- long case in Michigan that relied on confidential sources, undercover agents and clandestine recordings to foil the alleged kidnapping conspiracy, according to the criminal complaint and Trask’s testimony.
It was not immediately clear whether talk of targeting Virginia’s Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, went beyond the June meeting, and nothing from the criminal complaint or Trask’s testimony indicated that anyone had been charged with plotting against Northam. Trask said members of anti-government groups from “four or five” states attended that meeting, and the complaint noted that Croft and Fox were among the roughly 15 people who were there.
“They discussed possible targets, taking a sitting governor, specifically issues with the governor of Michigan and Virginia based on the lockdown orders,” Trask said. He said the people at the meeting were unhappy with the governors’ responses to the coronavirus pandemic.