5 charged in Mich. gov. kidnap scheme
A federal judge on Friday ordered five men to stand trial for their alleged involvement in a far-right extremist plot to overthrow Michigan’s state government and kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
The decision follows two days of testimony by an FBI agent and prosecutors behind the months-long investigation, which has led to charges against 14 people in Michigan and other states.
Authorities said the group planned to snatch the Democratic governor out of her vacation home and “try” her for treason, a plan that has been described as a violent response to Whitmer’s strict lockdown orders during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic.
The case now goes to a grand jury for a possible indictment, another requirement before a trial can be scheduled.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Berens also ruled Friday that two of the suspects, Adam Fox and Ty Garbin, should remain in jail. She previously denied bond for three other men charged in the case.
Attorneys for the five defendants tried to convince Berens that their clients were “big talkers” who did not intend to take action against the governor.
“It’s loose talk,” Scott Graham, an attorney for defendant Kaleb Franks, told the Grand Rapids court.
The judge didn’t buy it, noting that the fact that the plot was “likely to be unsuccessful or difficult to accomplish” was not relevant to decide whether there was probable cause to arrest them.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler, who also challenged Graham’s argument, said several of those men participated in surveillance outside Whitmer’s home and had multiple firearm exercises in the past few months.
“You’re crossing a pretty serious line when you go in the middle of the night in multiple cars and stage up at a gas station and... you go to the house of the sitting governor of the state to go surveil their house at night,” Kessler said.
In addition to the five men who appeared in federal court this week, a sixth suspect who lives in Delaware is expected to be transferred to Michigan in the coming days. Eight other men are facing state terrorism charges as part of the same scheme.
One of the plans the group allegedly considered involved hurling Molotov cocktails at the police and storming the Capitol building in Lansing, where they would kidnap Whitmer and other officials, according to an FBI affidavit. They also discussed abducting another Democratic governor, Virginia’s Ralph Northam, prosecutors said.
Several suspects are linked to an obscure paramilitary group known as Wolverine Watchmen