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Michigan’s attorney general and federal and state officials filed detailed indictments Thursday against what they call well-planned plans to overthrow the state’s elected board and Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Six men have been arrested and charged with kidnapping, while seven other men have been charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act of conspiring to attack the police and the state assembly.
All are in pre-trial detention and linked to the Wolverine Watchmen militia group and staff.
– The detainees are suspected of trying to identify the addresses of the police officers to attack them, threatening violence with the intention of starting a civil war, and participating in planning and training for an operation to attack the Capitol building. in Michigan, and kidnapping officials, including the Governor of Michigan, says State Attorney General Dana Nessel
FBI informants
For several months, the six are said to have planned, collaborated and trained alongside members of the military with a view to the planned kidnapping, according to the FBI.
“Several members spoke of killing tyrants or taking an acting governor,” the FBI said.
The motive is the defendant’s opinion of the “uncontrolled power” of the governor.
Four of the defendants were scheduled to meet Wednesday to “make a payment for explosives and exchange tactical equipment,” the FBI said in court documents released Thursday.
Investigators are said to have stopped the kidnapping plan using informants and scouts who infiltrated the militia group. All six have been arrested, writes The New York Times.
Whitmer describes himself as a progressive Democrat. It has been praised, but at the same time heavily criticized for Michigan’s handling of the corona pandemic. He left early to shut down the state when the coronavirus hit, but many of the strict measures have since been lifted.
The FBI learned of the military’s plans earlier this year, including through social media. He writes The Detroit News, which was the first to cover the case.
Facebook writes in a statement that they contacted the FBI and provided information after the group used social media chat features when they discussed the plans.
An undercover FBI agent infiltrated the Ohio environment in early June.
The military must have acted with discretion. Among other things, they met in the basement of a closed store. It is said that the only entrance was a closed hatch in the ground, which was hidden under a carpet. But the FBI informant still wore a hidden microphone that recorded what was said, according to court documents.
Protesters outside the congress building in Lansing, Michigan, on May 14. They demanded the governor’s resignation after coronary restrictions were introduced into the state.
Photo: Gregory Shamus / AFP
Would the congress building break in?
– Hatred, intolerance and violence have nothing to do with our powerful state.
This is what the governor said when she thanked authorities on Thursday for having arrested and charged what she calls “sick and depraved” men.
– When I took this job 22 months ago, I knew it was going to be demanding. But to be honest, I never thought something like this would happen. I want to thank the fearless agents of the FBI and the courageous officers of the State Police. If it hadn’t been for you, they could have killed me, he says.
Whitmer, 49, was elected governor of Michigan in 2018, and this summer she was named a possible vice presidential candidate by Joe Biden.
President Donald Trump has long opposed the governor’s strict coronation measures.
During Thursday’s thank-you speech, the governor also took time to criticize the president for refusing to condemn right-wing extremists.
As recently as last week, the president stood before the American people and refused to condemn extremists like this. These groups saw it as a call to arm themselves, to prepare. When our leader speaks, words mean something, they carry weight, says Governor Whitmer.
And Trump’s call to “liberate Michigan” may have taken the so-called militia too literally.
According to the FBI, one of the defendants has said that Whitmer “has uncontrolled power at the moment. All good things must end.”
The defendant said he needed 200 men to storm the congress building in the state capital, Lansing, and take the governor and others hostage. He wanted to take Whitmer hostage before the presidential election and hold her accountable for “treason,” according to the FBI.
Several members of the group participated in weapons training and in July attempted to manufacture and test improvised explosive devices. But they shouldn’t have detonated as planned, according to court documents.
Eventually, the group moved on to a plan that involved kidnapping the governor while she was in a vacation home in northern Michigan.
– The group spoke of creating a society that follows the first ten constitutional amendments, and where they can be self-sufficient, according to the FBI.
– They discussed different ways to achieve this goal, from peaceful attempts to violent acts. Several members spoke of killing “tyrants” or “taking” an acting governor, the FBI claims in court documents.
