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The Michigan governor was kept up to date on a plot to kidnap her and was transferred while the FBI tracked down potential kidnappers, the US state attorney general revealed.
On Thursday, the FBI said it had foiled the plot by suspected militants who planned to carry out a “treason trial” for Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Charges have been brought against a total of 13 men.
Stringent anti-coronavirus measures in Michigan have made Governor Whitmer a target for Covid-19 skeptics.
On Friday, Attorney General Dana Nessel told CBS News: “At times, she and her family had been transferred as a result of activities that law enforcement agencies were aware of.”
Ms. Nessel said the Democratic governor had kept up-to-date on the investigation in recent months.
The suspects were close enough to executing their plan that police had to enter “before anyone lost their lives,” he added.
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County Antrim Sheriff’s Office
Above (LR): Adam Fox, Brandon Caserta, Daniel Harris and Kaleb Franks. Bottom (LR): Ty Garbin, Eric Molitor, Michael Null and William Null
What were they supposedly planning?
According to an FBI affidavit released Thursday, an undercover source attended a June meeting in Ohio where a group of Michigan-based militiamen discussed overthrowing state governments “who believed they were violating the United States Constitution.”
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In a video, a suspect denounced the role of the state in deciding when to reopen gyms during the coronavirus shutdown.
The men gathered in a basement accessed through a hatch hidden under a carpet, investigators said.
Six men, five from Michigan and one from Delaware, are charged in federal court with plotting the kidnapping.
- Armed protesters from lockdown at Michigan state house
- What are American militia groups?
These six were named as Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, Brandon Casert, and Ty Garbin. Garbin’s residence, in a trailer park, was raided by authorities Wednesday.
The other seven face charges of terrorism and gang-related crimes in state court in connection with the alleged kidnapping plot.
They are Paul Bellar, Shawn Fix, Eric Molitor, Michael Null, William Null, Pete Musico and Joseph Morrison.
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The group wanted to muster about “200 men” to storm the capitol building and take hostages, including the governor. They hoped to put their plan into action before the November presidential election. If that failed, they planned to attack the governor at her home, authorities said.
The boogaloo problem on social media
These men are reported to have ties to a militia group called Boogaloo Bois. This is a movement that has grown online.
In fact, it is quite difficult to describe the motives of the group. It is not “right wing” in the traditional sense. The members of the movement are vehemently against the forces of order; some have been arrested for killing police officers.
Broadly speaking, they are extremist libertarians – think Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City terrorist, but with guns.
The term “Boogaloo” is usually a reference to a civil war. They have an ingrained hatred of big government; Confusingly, they are also often pro-Trump, though not exclusively. Hence his anger is often focused on the state government rather than the federal government.
Social media took a long time to act on Boogaloo. Facebook removed several Boogaloo groups in June, including the group these men were allegedly a part of. I showed TikTok a series of Boogaloo videos that were on their platform in July. Even now it’s very easy to find Boogaloo videos on social media – the hashtags they use often change, so it’s hard to keep up.
This story shows how important it is to monitor social media platforms for extremist content, before it sparks violence.
- Who are Boogaloo Bois, Antifa and Proud Boys?
What did the governor say?
At a press conference on Thursday, the governor linked the plot against her to the rhetoric of President Donald Trump, who said he had spent months “fueling mistrust, fueling anger, and comforting those who sowed fear, hatred and anger. division”.
In April, Trump hinted at his support for the protesters by tweeting “LIBERATE MICHIGAN.” A month later, armed protesters opposed to the blockade stormed the state capitol.
The Michigan attorney general confirmed Thursday that two men photographed at that May protest were among the arrested plot suspects.
On Thursday night, Trump, a Republican, tried to take credit for federal investigators eliminating the alleged threat to the governor.
“Instead of thanking, he calls me a white supremacist, while Biden and the Democrats refuse to condemn Antifa, the anarchists, looters and mobs that burn down Democrat-controlled cities,” he tweeted.
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fake images
Anti-blockade protesters have referred to Ms. Whitmer as Hitler
Michigan could be instrumental in the outcome of next month’s US presidential election.
Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic challenger in the White House, condemned the militias as “a genuine threat” and said Trump’s “release” tweet encouraged the militias. “A president’s words matter,” he said, adding, “Why can’t the president just say stop, stop, stop, stop?”
Numerous violent incidents have been linked to citizen militia groups in the United States in recent years.
The adherents, who are often white men, sometimes brandish weapons during protests. The Department of Homeland Security warned this week in an annual report that violent white supremacy was “the most persistent and deadly threat to the homeland.”
