Michigan plot, October 2020

[Eric the Green]

(04-22-2022, 08:18 PM)beechnut79 Wrote:

(04-22-2022, 06:29 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow speaks out against Michigan plot against Gov. Whitmer.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/go...cna1242811

Mallory McMorrow speaks out against Republican culture wars in this "viral" video:





PS Her horoscope score in 2022 as a potential US presidential candidate is 13-7. Just FYI

Just in case people like me don't know this latest culture-war smear term: " "Child grooming" is befriending and establishing an emotional connection with a child, and sometimes the family, to lower the child's inhibitions with the objective of sexual abuse." --wikipedia

Is her HS above or below average?

13-7 is a positive score. Average would be more like 10-10. Most elected presidents have had higher scores than 13-7, though.

http://philosopherswheel.com/presidentia...ScoredWhat

[David Horn]

(04-22-2022, 09:34 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:

(04-22-2022, 08:18 PM)beechnut79 Wrote:

(04-22-2022, 06:29 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow speaks out against Michigan plot against Gov. Whitmer.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/go...cna1242811

Mallory McMorrow speaks out against Republican culture wars in this "viral" video:





PS Her horoscope score in 2022 as a potential US presidential candidate is 13-7. Just FYI

Just in case people like me don't know this latest culture-war smear term: " "Child grooming" is befriending and establishing an emotional connection with a child, and sometimes the family, to lower the child's inhibitions with the objective of sexual abuse." --wikipedia

Is her HS above or below average?

13-7 is a positive score. Average would be more like 10-10. Most elected presidents have had higher scores than 13-7, though.

http://philosopherswheel.com/presidentia...ScoredWhat

Exactly the barnburners we need right now.  You can't overcome BS without calling it out first, and here's a great example of how that's done.  Great find!

[pbrower2a]

It is essential that we revert to 'reality-based politics' and to the assumption that doing good for constituents is the legitimate purpose of politics. We should be electing politicians to serve us and not out-of-district and out-of-state 'sugar daddies' who supply the campaign funds. We have gone nearly as far as we can with politics whose assumption is that those who have the gold dictate politics without becoming an outright plutocracy. Government representing economic interests as estates' is the essence of fascist representation. We know how that goes: supposedly a coal miner is in solidarity with mine owners and not with workers in a steel mill who have similar lives.

Class interest is a valid criterion for supporting one politician over another. It might not be the sole reason: freedom and civility must take precedence. So if right-wingers despise the Class Struggle as debased Marxism... maybe they need to lessen the severe differences of economic result between owners and executives on the one side and workers on the other.

In other aspects of life we are obliged to do good and eschew evil. Why should politics be any different?

[pbrower2a]

(NBC-8, Grand Rapids, Michigan; service area including Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, suburbs thereof, Holland, and Muskegon)

My excuse for citing this story in full: this is a plot is a pivotal event in the climax of this 4T. 



GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP/WOOD) — A jury on Tuesday convicted two men of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, delivering swift verdicts in a plot that was broken up by the FBI and described as a rallying cry for a U.S. civil war by anti-government extremists.

Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. were convicted of two counts of conspiracy related to the kidnapping scheme and attempts to obtain a weapon of mass destruction. Prosecutors said they wanted to blow up a bridge to disrupt police if the abduction could be pulled off at Whitmer’s vacation home.

Croft, 46, a trucker from Bear, Delaware, was also convicted of another explosives charge.
Fox and Croft, who face sentences of up to life in prison, just stared at the jury as the verdicts were read. Defense attorney Christopher Gibbons shook his head while another defense lawyer, Joshua Blanchard, removed his glasses.
The jury deliberated for roughly eight hours over two days. Fox’s attorney Christopher Gibbons said that during the trial, he did not know what outcome to expect.
“The jury was very difficult to read throughout the entire process,” he said. “They kept their game faces on.”

Jurors declined to speak to reporters outside the federal courthouse in Grand Rapids.
“My client is disappointed in the verdict,” Gibbons said, speaking to reporters outside the courthouse. “It’s been a good fight. We’ve made it twice in a row. We were hoping for a different outcome today.”

He cited “issues” with the jury that the judge has ordered be dealt with in private and indicated an appeal was likely.

“We will be pursuing all avenues of relief for our clients in between now and sentencing,” Gibbons said. “….In the legal process, there’s always another day and there’s always another rule, and another avenue and we will be pursuing all of those vigorously on behalf of our clients.”

Croft’s attorney Joshua Blanchard had tried to get the matter involving the jury placed on the public record.
“I believe that justice should happen in public,” he said.


He has also sued the U.S. Attorney’s Office over its handling of the case.
“I think justice should happen in public,” he repeated, “and they wouldn’t let things be public in this case. That’s why I filed the lawsuit, and so we’re going to pursue that.”

FBI ‘concocted’ Whitmer kidnapping plot, acquitted man says
It was the second trial for the pair after a jury in April couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict. Two other men were acquitted and two more pleaded guilty and testified for prosecutors. The result was a victory for the government following the shocking mixed outcome in April.

“The verdict confirms that this plot was very serious and very dangerous,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge told reporters. “It posed a threat not only to the governor personally and her family, but also to innocent bystanders and the basic social order. No governor, no public official, should have to contend with what Gov. Whitmer contended with here. All of our elected officials, everyone, deserves to be able to live in safety and not in fear.”
Asked by News 8 what made the difference this time, Birge declined answer.


The verdicts came down on Whitmer’s 51st birthday.

In a statement, the Democratic governor said the they demonstrated that “violence and threats have no place in our politics” and said plots like the one against her and threats like those that federal authorities have received in the wake of an FBI raid on former President Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago in search of classified documents “are a disturbing extension of radicalized domestic terrorism that festers in our nation…”

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER Wrote:[i]“I want to thank the prosecutors and law enforcement officers for their hard work and my family, friends, and staff for their support.[/i]
[i]“Today’s verdicts prove that violence and threats have no place in our politics and those who seek to divide us will be held accountable. They will not succeed.[/i]
[i]“But we must also take a hard look at the status of our politics. Plots against public officials and threats to the FBI are a disturbing extension of radicalized domestic terrorism that festers in our nation, threatening the very foundation of our republic.[/i]
[i]“I ran for office because I love my fellow Michiganders and my home state with all my heart. I always will. I cannot—I will not—let extremists get in the way of the work we do. They will never break my unwavering faith in the goodness and decency of our people.[/i]
[i]“I will stay focused on getting things done for the people of Michigan.”[/i]

She previously blamed then-President Trump for stoking mistrust and fomenting anger over coronavirus restrictions and refusing to condemn hate groups and right-wing extremists like those charged in the plot. Trump recently called the kidnapping plan a “fake deal.”

THE CASE AGAINST CROFT AND FOX

During closing arguments Monday, a prosecutor had a blunt message: No one can strap on an AR-15 rifle and body armor and snatch a governor.

“But that wasn’t the defendants’ ultimate goal,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler said. “They wanted to set off a second American civil war, a second American Revolution, something that they call the boogaloo. And they wanted to do it for a long time before they settled on Gov. Whitmer.”

“The defendants in this case believed that their anti-government views justified violence,” FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge David Porter told reporters. “Today’s verdict is a clear example that they were wrong in that assessment. Here in America, if you disagree with your government, you have options: you can criticize your government, you can protest, you can vote your elected officials out of office. However, what you cannot do is plan or commit acts of violence.”

He said the FBI would “continue to investigate anyone who seeks violence in furtherance of ideology.”
The investigation began when Army veteran Dan Chappel joined a Michigan paramilitary group and became alarmed when he heard talk about killing police. He agreed to become an FBI informant and spent summer 2020 getting close to Fox and others, secretly recording conversations and participating in drills at “shoot houses” in Wisconsin and Michigan.
The FBI turned it into a major domestic terrorism case with two more informants and two undercover agents embedded in the group. Evidence showed the group had many gripes, particularly over COVID-19 restrictions imposed by Whitmer early in the pandemic.

Fox, Croft and others, accompanied by the government operatives, traveled to northern Michigan to see Whitmer’s vacation home at night and a bridge that could be destroyed. Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, too, were on that ride. They pleaded guilty and testified for the prosecution.

Whitmer was not physically harmed; six men were arrested hours away from her home in October 2020.
Defense attorneys tried to put the FBI on trial, repeatedly emphasizing through cross-examination of witnesses and during closing remarks that federal players were present at every crucial event and had entrapped the men.

Fox and Croft, they said, were “big talkers” who liked to smoke marijuana and were guilty of nothing but exercising their right to say vile things about Whitmer and government.

“This isn’t Russia. This isn’t how our country works,” Blanchard, Croft attorney, told jurors. “You don’t get to suspect that someone might commit a crime because you don’t like things that they say, that you don’t like their ideologies.”

Gibbons, Fox’s attorney, said the FBI isn’t supposed to create “domestic terrorists.” He described Fox as poor and living in the basement of a Grand Rapids-area vacuum shop, which was a site for meetings with Chappel and an agent.

“I do not think that we did go too hard (on attacking the FBI’s credibility,” Gibbons told reporters. “I think that the record speaks for itself.”

Croft and Fox face up to life in prison.
___
White reported from Detroit. News 8’s Rachel Van Gilder reported from Grand Rapids.
___
*Correction: A previous version of this article included an incorrect title for Birge. He is an assistant U.S. attorney. We regret the error, which has been fixed.

Copyright 2022 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

https://www.woodtv.com/news/michigan/deliberations-start-for-men-charged-in-gov-whitmer-plot/

[pbrower2a]

Not to be forgotten as a precursor to the Capitol Putsch: 


A Michigan man involved in a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) in 2020 was sentenced to four years in prison on Thursday, federal prosecutors announced.
The big picture: Kaleb Franks, 28, of Waterford, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiring to kidnap the Michigan governor, had faced up to life in prison. But his sentence was reduced due to such factors as testifying at two federal trials, per a Department of Justice statement.

• Those trials "cumulatively resulted in the convictions of co-defendants Adam Fox and Barry Croft and the acquittals of Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta," the DOJ noted.
  
• Ty Garbin, who was the first person to plead guilty in the case, had his prison sentence reduced from 75 months to 30 months due to his cooperation at the trials.
  

Context: The FBI said in October 2020 its agents uncovered a plot to violently overthrow the government and kidnap Whitmer because the plotters believed she and other elected officials were violating the U.S. Constitution with measures such as pandemic restrictions.

What's next: Fox and Croft are due to be sentenced in December.

• Franks, who must also pay a $2,500 fine, will be placed under court supervision for three years following his release from federal prison, according to the DOJ.
  

https://www.axios.com/2022/10/07/michiga...n-sentence

[pbrower2a]

2nd man convicted in Whitmer plot gets 4 years in prison

By ED WHITE
Published: Oct. 7, 2022 at 9:35 AM EDT|Updated: 5 hours ago
A man who pleaded guilty to conspiring to kidnap Michigan’s governor in 2020 was granted a major break Thursday and sentenced to four years in prison.

Kaleb Franks was rewarded for testifying for prosecutors at two trials. His sentence was longer than the term given to another man who was the first to plead guilty but it still carried a significant benefit.

Franks “made the right decision and came clean. That's encouraging,” U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker said.

Franks was among six anti-government extremists who were charged in federal court with conspiracy and other crimes. Investigators said the group's goal was to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and incite a U.S. civil war — the “boogaloo” — before the 2020 presidential election.


“I would like to start by saying I’m sorry to the governor and her family,” Franks said in federal court in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

“I understand that this experience had to have been very traumatizing and difficult,” he said. “I'm ashamed and embarrassed of my actions, and I regret every decision that I made.”

The group considered Whitmer, a Democrat, and other elected officials to be tyrants who were infringing on constitutional rights, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when businesses were shut down, people were told to stay home and schools were closed.

Franks, 28, participated in a key step in the conspiracy: a ride on a rainy night to scout Whitmer's vacation home in northern Michigan. She was not there at the time.

He testified that he had hoped to be killed by police if a kidnapping could be pulled off at some point. The FBI, however, had undercover agents and informants inside the group.

“I was going to be an operator,” Franks said last spring. “I would be one of the people on the front line, so to speak, using my gun.”

Prosecutors said Franks' cooperation was important because it backed up critical testimony from Ty Garbin, who pleaded guilty a year earlier and was sentenced to just 2 1/2 years in prison.

“It really was invaluable to have the testimony of an insider," Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler told the judge, referring to Franks.

When the hearing began, his sentencing guidelines suggested a minimum prison term of 12 years. But Jonker reduced the range at the government's request and settled on a much lower figure. Franks will get credit for two years in custody.

An email seeking comment was sent to Whitmer's staff. In August, after the convictions of ringleaders Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr., she said the plot was a “disturbing extension of radicalized domestic terrorism.” Two other men, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta, were acquitted in April.

“They didn't just want to kidnap her,” Kessler said in court Thursday. “The plot that Mr. Fox and Mr. Croft really wanted to do was to put (Whitmer) on trial, kill her and begin a second civil war. What’s really frightening about that is just how prevalent those kind of views have become.”

Meanwhile, 120 miles (190 kilometers) away in Jackson, Michigan, a jury heard a second day of testimony in the trial of three members of a paramilitary group who were also arrested in 2020. Joe Morrison, Pete Musico and Paul Bellar are not charged with directly participating in the plot but are accused of assisting Fox and others.

[pbrower2a]

I'm not letting this slip. This is part of the climate in which the Capitol Putsch was possible. The selective contempt for minima of law and order is itself a grave danger to America.

[pbrower2a]

Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!
(Detroit News) 

Jackson — Three men have been found guilty by a Jackson County jury of materially aiding a terrorist and being a member of a gang as part of a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

This verdict comes after a three-week trial where the Michigan Attorney General's Office had to prove that Paul Bellar, Joseph Morrison and Pete Musico provided aid to Adam Fox or Barry Croft, both of whom were convicted in an August federal trial of being ringleaders in the Whitmer kidnapping plot. Jurors spent two weeks listening to each side present testimony in the largest domestic terrorism case in a generation that has shed light on political extremism in Michigan.

It also was the first state trial connected to the Whitmer kidnapping plot allegations. Croft and Fox are appealing their convictions.

The jury spent about five hours deliberating before coming back with the verdict. They found Musico, 43; his son-in-law, Morrison, 27; and acquaintance Bellar, 22, guilty of providing material support to a terrorist, being a member of a gang and a felony weapons charge.

The men each face up to 42 years in prison — 20 years for the charges of providing material support and gang membership and an additional two years for a felony weapons charge. The gang membership sentence may run consecutively to other sentences. Sentencing for all three men is scheduled for Dec. 15.

Bellar looked down at the table as the verdict was read but had no visible response. His attorney, Andrew Kirkpatrick, said he was very nervous in the period leading up to the verdict and was practically hyperventilating in the elevator on the way up to the courtroom.

Morrison tested positive for COVID-19 Sunday and Musico showed symptoms, so neither was in the courtroom while the verdict was read. Over Zoom, both Musico and Morrison closed their eyes, and Morrison appeared to cry.

Doddamani said Bellar provided medical and firearms training, Musico provided facilities and personnel and Morrison provided facilities, personnel and advice to Fox, in particular. Morrison taught Fox about operation security, vetting potential members, recruiting and how to run a firearms training, the assistant attorney general said. They knew Fox was looking to commit violence and were OK with it, Doddamani said.

"These three defendants had been pushing toward violence for months," Doddamani said. "Even if they weren’t going to do an act of terrorism themselves, they were more than happy and willing to help someone else."

How state made its case
The FBI was able to take down the plot before any violence occurred by infiltrating the militia and using confidential informants and undercover officers to build their case.

"Instead of only reacting to known threats, it is imperative that law enforcement be proactive in order to save lives," Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement. "This office will not sit idly by and watch while armed terrorists plan acts of civil unrest with the intent of causing mayhem and murder. These are not merely acts of ‘harmless chatter’ and 'wishful thinking.' These are criminal conspiracies to conduct dangerous acts, and it is incumbent upon law enforcement to treat this activity as such. Make no mistake, the quick actions of law enforcement saved lives. We are pleased the jury clearly understood that."

The Attorney General office's case rested heavily on Bellar, Morrison and Musico's own words, from audio messages, Facebook posts, text messages and audio recorded by one of the FBI's confidential informants.

Prosecutors said the men purged inactive members, held mandatory trainings, compartmentalized information dispersion, issued ultimatums, traveled long distances, and spent their free time hosting in-person trainings and communicating on Facebook and through an encrypted application.

They gave Fox a blueprint to learn from, Doddamani said. They taught to him recruit, organize and train a group of operators, about operational security, about vetting potential members and firearms training.

"Don't underestimate the dangerousness of the defendants and the men they were helping," Assistant Attorney General William Rollstin cautioned the jury before they left the courtroom Tuesday to deliberate.

Fox and Croft were convicted of federal charges of kidnapping conspiracy and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction during their second trial after the first ended in a mistrial. Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta, co-defendants of Fox and Croft, were acquitted, and other plot members Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks pleaded guilty to kidnapping conspiracy.

Whitmer said in a statement Wednesday that the guilty verdicts are further proof that "violence and threats have no place in our politics."

"Those who seek to sow discord by pursuing violent plots will be held accountable under the law," Whitmer wrote. "This trial is another stark reminder that we must take an honest look at the state of our politics. Politically motivated plots, threats and violence are increasingly common against public officials as well as everyday citizens. They are the logical, disturbing extension of radicalization, hatred, and conspiratorial thinking that festers in America, threatening the foundation of our republic. ...

"No threat, no plot, no rhetoric will break my belief in the goodness and decency of our people."

Musico's attorney, Kareem Johnson, said he was "disappointed" with the verdict, but still believes Musico is innocent, as do other members of the Wolverine Watchmen Johnson said he talked to. Johnson said they were afraid to testify in case they ended up getting charged. Johnson said he planned to appeal several things after the sentencing.

Leonard Ballard, Morrison's attorney, said the trial was "fair, but disappointing."

"It’s hard to know what the jury is going to latch onto," Ballard said. "Walking out yesterday I thought a not guilty verdict was coming back," adding that he was surprised by how quickly the jury returned a verdict.

Bellar's attorney Andrew Kirkpatrick said he was surprised and disappointed by the verdict. He added he was frustrated with the prosecutors, who he said jumped around the timeline and cherry-picked the audio and text messages they used in the case.

He said it was clear Bellar left the state before the plot was formulated and he was not a part of it. When he left, he had not broken any laws or committed any violence, Kirkpatrick said, and he wasn’t part of any trainings or discussions about the plotted kidnapping.

kberg@detroitnews.com

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/l...590174007/

[pbrower2a]

[pbrower2a]

I hope that this gets people to contemplate the seriousness of right-wing terrorism.

[pbrower2a]

These fellows must have thought state anti-terrorist statutes in Michigan applied to people in Dearborn with names like Ali, Khalid, Mustafa, Hamid, and the like. They fought the law... and the law won.

[pbrower2a]

(CBS, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Muskegon, Michigan)


GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The co-leader of a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Adam Fox returned to federal court Tuesday, four months after he and Barry Croft Jr. were convicted of conspiracy charges at a second trial in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
They were accused of being at the helm of a wild plot to whip up anti-government extremists just before the 2020 presidential election.

• In court: Evidence, witnesses revealed in retrial for men accused of plotting to kidnap Gov. Whitmer
  

Whitmer wasn’t physically harmed. The FBI was secretly embedded in the group and broke things up with 14 arrests.
The government said Croft offered bomb-making skills and ideology while Fox was the “driving force urging their recruits to take up arms, kidnap the governor and kill those who stood in their way.”
Croft will be sentenced Wednesday.
During Fox's sentencing, Judge Robert Jonker said life in prison “is greater than necessary, but something less than life, gets the job done.”
The defendant sat silent in court before the judge revealed his 16-year sentence, smirking and at times shaking his head in disbelief.
News Channel 3 spoke to his defense attorney. “He’s not excited, but he’s looking forward to the court of appeals,” said Christopher Gibbons. “A life sentence would’ve been absurd.”

“We got some justice today,” said Andrew Birge, former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Michigan who was also appointed by the attorney general to complete oversight of the case. “Responding to domestic terrorism plots has been a priority for the Department of Justice, since its founding, we’re going to continue to spare no expense to make sure we disrupt plots like these and bring those responsible and hold them accountable to the law.”
In court, an assistant U.S. attorney also said people followed Fox because he was “enthusiastic.”
Later on, Judge Jonker said Fox used social media to pump up an idea to recruit and retain people, but stood behind his statement that he’s convicting Fox on “what’s sufficient but not greater than necessary”
Judge Jonker said Fox had no criminal record prior, and he’ll have to seek mental health and substance abuse help.
A steely rebel who wanted to inspire a revolution by kidnapping Michigan's governor or an insecure patsy who was cleverly swayed by federal agents and informants?

A judge has been given two very different portrayals of Adam Fox, who faced a possible life sentence Tuesday for conspiring to abduct Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and blow up a bridge to ease an escape in northern Michigan.
Fox and co-defendant Barry Croft Jr. were accused of being at the helm of a wild plot to whip up anti-government extremists just before the 2020 presidential election. Their arrest, as well as the capture of 12 others, was a stunning coda to a tumultuous year of racial strife and political turmoil in the U.S.




Fox and Croft were convicted at a second trial in August, months after a different jury in Grand Rapids, Michigan, couldn't reach a verdict but acquitted two other men.
Fox and Croft in 2020 met with like-minded provocateurs at a summit in Ohio, trained with weapons in Michigan and Wisconsin and took a ride to "put eyes" on Whitmer's vacation home with night-vision goggles, according to evidence.
"People need to stop with the misplaced anger and place the anger where it should go, and that's against our tyrannical ... government," Fox declared that spring, boiling over COVID-19 restrictions and perceived threats to gun ownership.
Whitmer wasn't physically harmed. The FBI, which was secretly embedded in the group, broke things up by fall.
"They had no real plan for what to do with the governor if they actually seized her. Paradoxically, this made them more dangerous, not less," Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler said in a court filing ahead of the hearing.
Croft offered bomb-making skills and ideology while Fox was the "driving force urging their recruits to take up arms, kidnap the governor and kill those who stood in their way," the prosecutor said.
In 2020, Fox, 39, was living in the basement of a Grand Rapids-area vacuum shop, the site of clandestine meetings with members of a paramilitary group and an undercover FBI agent. His lawyer said he was depressed, anxious and smoking marijuana daily.

Fox's attorney Christopher Gibbons said a life sentence would be extreme.
Fox was regularly exposed to "inflammatory rhetoric" by FBI informants, especially Army veteran Dan Chappel, who "manipulated not only Fox's sense of 'patriotism' but also his need for friendship, acceptance and male approval," Gibbons said in a court filing.
He said prosecutors had exaggerated Fox's capabilities, saying he was poor and lacked the capability to obtain a bomb and carry out the plan.

Croft, a trucker from Bear, Delaware, will be sentenced Wednesday.
Two men who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and testified against Fox and Croft received substantial breaks: Ty Garbin already is free after a 2 1/2-year prison term, while Kaleb Franks was given a four-year sentence.
In state court, three men recently were given lengthy sentences for assisting Fox earlier in the summer of 2020. Five more are awaiting trial in Antrim County, where Whitmer's vacation home is located.
When the plot was extinguished, Whitmer, a Democrat, blamed then-President Donald Trump, saying he had given "comfort to those who spread fear and hatred and division." In August, 19 months after leaving office, Trump said the kidnapping plan was a "fake deal."
___
Ed White in Detroit contributed to this story. Joey Cappelletti is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.