Gretchen Whitmer: US jury deciding fate of ‘kidnap plotters’

Jurors have begun deliberations in the trial of four men accused of a violent plot to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic governor in 2020.

The government says the four defendants targeted Gretchen Whitmer over stringent Covid-19 rules she imposed early in the pandemic.

But lawyers for the accused argued that undercover FBI agents manipulated the men.

In closing arguments, they said the plot had been “manufactured”.

Adam Fox, 38, the alleged ringleader; Daniel Harris, 24; Brandon Caserta, 33; and Barry Croft, 46, each face charges of kidnapping conspiracy.

Fox, Harris and Croft also face a charge of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.

The court heard earlier that they had planned to abduct Ms Whitmer from her holiday home, put her on “treason trial” and set her adrift in a boat on Lake Michigan.

But lawyers for the accused argued it was mostly profane chatter, not an actual plan. They also claimed the men were lured into the plan by undercover agents.

On Friday, attorney Chris Gibbons described his client, Mr Fox, as “a big talker” who was “broke as a joke” and “looking for connections”.

He claimed the government paid an informant, Daniel “Big Dan” Chappel, to befriend Mr Fox and try to radicalise him, with help from FBI handlers.

“Somebody beats the drum and gets them all worked up. That’s unacceptable in America,” Mr Gibbons said. “We don’t make terrorists so we can arrest them.”

Big Dan did not testify in the trial, informing the court through a lawyer that he would invoke his right not to self-incriminate, better known as “pleading the Fifth”.

In their own closing arguments, however, prosecutors detailed some of the steps taken by the four men, from setting up field training and encrypted chats to casing the governor’s house and trying to buy explosives.

“They trained to kidnap the governor, they cased her house in the middle of the night, they mapped it out, they planned it, they gathered weapons and bombs,” Assistant US Attorney Nils Kessler said.

“The feasibility of the plan doesn’t matter,” he added.

Earlier this week, FBI agent Timothy Bates told the court how he had infiltrated the group by posing as an explosives expert.

The idea, he said, was to blow up a bridge or two near the governor’s home to slow down the police, and that “excited” Mr Fox.

Late last month, two former co-conspirators – Ty Garbin, 26, and Kaleb Franks, 27 – took the stand to detail plans and discussions around the violent plot, with one telling the court the men hoped it would become the “ignition” for a second US civil war.

Over the course of the four-week trial, only one defendant, Mr Harris, chose to testify in his own defence. He vigorously denied involvement in the plot.

If convicted, the men could spent the rest of their lives in prison.