A federal afidavit filed Thursday outlines a plot by six members of a Michigan militia to overthrow the government and kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer to a remote Wisconsin location, where she would “stand trial” for treason.
A court document filed Tuesday identifies the suspects in a federal case as Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta. The filing alleges the conspirators surveilled her at her vacation home and built bombs. Five suspects are from Michigan, and one is from Delaware.
Talk had surfaced as early as June and unnamed groups met in Ohio to plan an overthrow, including a plan to storm the Capitol in Lansing and kill police officers. That plan wax nixed in favor of invading her northern Michigan vacation home, using a taser, bombing a bridge nearby, and kidnapping her to Wisconsin.The FBI was already tracking the militia in March after a local police department learned members were trying to obtain addresses of local law-enforcement officers.
There was talk of actually carrying out the plan on the night of Sept. 12 and Sept. 13, but was held off. They wanted to do it before Election Day on November 3.
A store in Grand Rapids was raided on Wednesday in an investigation of Adam Fox.
The store’s owner Brian Titus told News 8 he has known Fox since he was a child. He said he knew Fox was in a militia but didn’t know how serious his anti-government opinions had gotten.
He said Fox had “changed” in the last eight months, objecting to wearing a mask because he thought it was a violation of his rights. Titus said he attended a protest of militia members at the state Capitol over the summer.
State and federal authorities are holding a press conference at 1pmET, and the governor will be speaking later this afternoon.
From the Detroit News:
“The group talked about creating a society that followed the U.S. Bill of Rights and where they could be self-sufficient,” the FBI agent wrote.
“They discussed different ways of achieving this goal from peaceful endeavors to violent actions. At one point, several members talked about state governments they believed were violating the U.S. Constitution, including the government of Michigan and Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
