Members of a Far-Right Militia Arrested in Michigan for Plotting to Abduct Gov. Whitmer

Court documents show that the FBI was monitoring the activities of the six men closely, and there was no imminent threat posed to Whitmer because any move by the six men to carry out the abduction would have been detected.

The six men were identified in court documents as Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta.

On 20 June Fox, Garbin and others met at Fox’s business in Grand Rapids where attendees met in the basement accessed by a trap door hidden under a rug on the main floor, according to the criminal complaint. Attendees turned over their cell phones, which were brought upstairs to “prevent any monitoring.”

“The attendees discussed plans for assaulting the Michigan State Capitol, countering law enforcement first responders, and using ‘Molotov cocktails’ to destroy police vehicles.

At a meeting in July, attended and recorded by an FBI informants, the men “discussed attacking a Michigan State Police facility, and in a separate conversation after the meeting, Garbin suggested shooting up the Governor’s vacation home,” authorities said.

Then at a 27 July meeting, Fox and an informant discussed a possible kidnapping of Whitmer, with the defendant allegedly saying: “Snatch and grab, man. Grab the f—-ing governor. Just grab the b——. Because at that point, we do that, dude — it’s over.”

Those who attended the meetings were told to leave if they were not willing to participate in attacks against the government and in kidnapping politicians.

During phone calls monitored by the FBI, Fox said he needed 200 men to storm the Capitol in Lansing to take hostages, including the governor of Michigan for “treason,” and he said they would execute the plan before the 2020 elections.

According to U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge for the Western District of Michigan, the conspirators used code words and encrypted platforms to shield their discussions from authorities.

“Fox and Croft in particular … discussed detonating explosive devices to divert police from the area of the (governor’s vacation) home,” Birge said.

Fox News reports that the federal investigation involved at least one member of an armed Michigan militia group who was involved in a Second Amendment rally at the Michigan Statehouse in June.

That member told the FBI that the group was considering killing police officers and agreed to become an informant.

The role of the militia itself in the plot to kidnap the governor appears to be small, as the six men charged Thursday made a point of saying that they wanted to keep other members of the militia out of their actual plan.

In a YouTube video from May, Caserta claimed in a 30-minute rant that “the enemy is government.” He shot the video in front of an anarchist’s flag and a map of Michigan.

The seven suspects facing state charges were identified as Paul Bellar, 21, Shawn Fix, 38, Eric Molitor, 36, Michael Null, 38, William Null, 38, Pete Musico, 42, and Joseph Morrison, 42.

The seven are linked to the Wolverine Watchmen militia and sought to “instigate a civil war” and had “engaged in planning and training for an operation to attack the Capitol building of Michigan and to kidnap government officials, including the governor of Michigan,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said.

For months, the anger of far-right militias toward Whitmer has been growing. These militias objected to the restrictions Whitmer imposed in an effort to slow down the spread of the coronavirus.

In April, armed protesters demonstrated in front of the Michigan Senate – and a few of them managed to get into the building — carrying AR15s – after Donald Trump famously tweeted “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”

Referring to members of the armed militias, Trump tweeted 1 May: “The Governor of Michigan should give a little, and put out the fire.” He added:  “These are very good people, but they are angry. They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal.”

U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider, who heads federal prosecutions in the Eastern District of Michigan, said: “All of us in Michigan can disagree about politics,” he said. “But those disagreements should never, ever amount to violence.”