Man pleads guilty in Whitmer kidnap plot

A Wisconsin man accused of assisting the key figures in a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor pleaded guilty Wednesday to a lesser charge and will cooperate with prosecutors.

Brian Higgins said he attempted to provide material support for terrorism, a crime that carries a maximum prison term of five years. He drove past Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s second home in Antrim County in 2020 while allies waited across a lake for a signal from his laser-style device.

Higgins was among five men scheduled to face trial later this year in northern Michigan.

The ragtag band of antigovernment rebels was planning to eventually snatch the Democrat and trigger a civil war before the 2020 election, investigators said, but informants and undercover FBI agents were inside the group for months and helped break up the plot.

Higgins, 54, admitted that he was on the night ride with a camera rigged to his pickup truck. Whitmer was not at the house at the time.

“I wish to plead guilty,” Higgins told the judge, appearing by video from Wisconsin Dells, Wis., where he has been free on bond.

Fourteen people were charged in three different courts. The U.S. Justice Department secured convictions against four men in federal court, including leaders Barry Croft Jr. and Adam Fox, though two men were acquitted.

Three men charged with aiding Fox were found guilty in Jackson County in October and are serving long prison terms.