FBI: Second governor was targeted
Anti-government groups against lockdowns also discussed kidnapping Virginia’s elected leader
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, to determine if they should remain jailed until trial, FBI agent Richard Trask revealed new details about investigators’ use of confidential informants, undercover agents and encrypted communication in the case.
The five Michigan men and Barry Croft, a Delaware man who was ordered Tuesday to be transferred to Michigan to face the charges, were arrested last week 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 monthslong 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.
During a news conference Tuesday, Northam said he wasn’t going to discuss the alleged plot and stressed that he and his family feel safe with the security the state police provide.
Earlier Tuesday, Northam’s spokeswoman, Alena Yarmosky, issued a statement in which she said the FBI alerted key members of Northam’s security team throughout the course of its investigation, but neither the governor nor members of his staff were informed, as per security protocols for highly classified information.