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It sounds monstrous, a bit like news from a distant failed state. Not surprising, though: something like this had been cropping up in Michigan for months.
Six men have been indicted in Great Lakes State for conspiring to kidnap Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Seven others are accused of trying to instigate a civil war. The charges in the two trials, the first in federal court and the second in the state of Michigan, are terrorism, conspiracy and firearms crimes. Defendants in the first trial face life in prison, in the second up to 20 years.
The plan: kidnap the governor before the US elections and accuse her of “treason”
In a court document released Thursday, an FBI agent involved in the case outlined the men’s plans in all their disturbing detail. At least since the summer they had been discussing the Whitmer kidnapping. His objective is to bring the governor under his control before the presidential elections and accuse her of “treason” in a justice trial.
It was probably not just words. According to the FBI, the men explored Whitmers’ vacation home twice. Andrew Birge, the state’s attorney in western Michigan, said one of the defendants acquired a stun gun to use in the kidnapping. Consequently, the men now also considered the use of explosives. This, according to a scenario discussed by the defendants, could have been detonated under a bridge to drive police away from the governor’s vacation home.
“Grab the damn governor”
According to the FBI, there were also conspiracy meetings. In one in Ohio in June, one of those arrested described his efforts: He would have to recruit 200 men to storm the state capital and take hostages, including the governor. In July, he re-described what he had in mind: “Grab the fucking governor. Just grab the bitch.” What I didn’t know at the time: The person I was talking to was an FBI informant.
In August and September, the federal police increased surveillance of the group and used undercover agents. Access then took place on Wednesday. The six men, five Michigan residents and one Delaware, were arrested.
The second group of defendants do not have to answer in federal court as it is: the seven men are being charged with being related to Michigan’s counterterrorism laws. According to Dana Nessel, the state attorney general, the seven men are accused of identifying the homes of police officers and making threats of violence aimed at “starting a civil war.” According to the FBI, two of the defendants are co-founders of “Wolverine Watchmen”, a radical militia that rejects the state.
Gretchen Whitmer: the enemy of Trump supporters
Right-wing militias are nothing new in Michigan, as in other states. However, in recent months, their activities have developed in a significantly different political context. No one has felt this more intensely than Whitmer.
The Democrat, who meanwhile was traded as Joe Biden’s runner-up, has become an enemy of all those who reject the crown’s restrictions in the wake of the pandemic. (Read more about it here.) Donald Trump played a big role in this. The president repeatedly attacked the governor.
“Free Michigan” was a Twitter message that Trump fueled protests against Whitmer’s actions. Anger against the Democrat grew. The tone of the protests was strident, hostility to Angela Merkel was sometimes recalled during the Pegida protests in 2015. Whitmer, a moderate Democrat, became the epitome of tyranny in the eyes of Trump supporters: Comparisons to Nazi Germany, worst insults, fictional hanging puppets.
Development reached its time low in late April, when opponents of the governor gained access to the parliament building, some of them armed with assault rifles and masked. According to a spokeswoman for Justice Minister Nessel, at least three of the 13 defendants this week were among them.
From what can be seen, there is no evidence in court records that Trump’s rhetoric motivated the defendants. However, within hours of the alleged plot, Whitmer made serious accusations against the president. He referred to Trump’s appearance in the first television match against Joe Biden and the message the president sent to the Proud Boys, a violent right-wing group, during the debate: “Back off and stay out of it.” You guys are ready. “) Such groups, according to Whitmer, do not understand the president’s words as a reproach, but as” a slogan, a call to action. “
Trump, for his part, again attacked the governor on Twitter. Instead of thanking him for “his” federal agencies foiling the plot against him, Whitmer called him a white racist, the president lamented. Overall, the governor is doing a terrible job.
Trump remains fully confident in confrontation, speaks completely flat and deceptively of a “treacherous plot” by Biden, Obama and others, and ponders why his political opponents are not arrested. Added to this is his refusal to guarantee a peaceful transition after the elections, as well as messages such as that of the “Proud Boys”. In this context, the planned kidnapping of the Michigan governor for the upcoming presidential election does not bode well.
