Indeed, a new indictment filed on April 26, 2021, saw a grand jury add three additional charges to the extant federal charge: conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, possession of an unregistered destructive device, and possession of an unregistered short-barreled rifle. Attorney Nils Kessler argued in court that although these individuals “got caught because they’re amateurs and they hadn’t thought things through,” that did not mean that their plot, just because it failed, “wasn’t dangerous.” 4 Defense attorneys for the men accused in the federal complaint of conspiring to kidnap Governor Whitmer argue that their clients were prone to “big talk” and were just blowing off steam that their plans were “outlandish” and “absurd.” 3 The prosecution takes the diametrically opposed view. The following outline of the case against the 14 men and the allegations contained therein-derived from press reports, the criminal complaint, and court documents-remain to be tested in court at the time of writing (July 2021), and thus, all of those charged in connection to the plot referred to in this article are to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise. An eighth alleged member of the Wolverine Watchmen was charged the following week, bringing the total number of individuals charged to 14. b In addition to being involved in the conspiracy to kidnap Whitmer, this group was also alleged to have targeted local law enforcement officials, made threats of violence intended to instigate a civil war, and planned and trained for an operation to attack the Capitol building in Lansing, Michigan. a Simultaneously, the State of Michigan had filed additional charges, pursuant with its Anti-Terrorism Act, against another seven men connected to a little known militia group called the Wolverine Watchmen. 1 The previous evening, the FBI and Michigan State Police had arrested six men, five in Michigan and one in Delaware, who they had charged, in a federal complaint, with conspiring to kidnap Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer. On October 8, 2020, Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel held a press conference with colleagues from the state’s Eastern and Western Districts as well as state police and the FBI to announce that a “serious, credible threat to public safety” had been averted. It also underscores the importance of encrypted digital technology and operational security measures as an increasingly integrated part of DVE activity. The case itself highlights the continuing evolution and complexity of the domestic violent extremism (DVE) threat landscape as well as its decentralized and amorphous nature.
The alleged plot to kidnap Governor Whitmer-14 defendants are currently awaiting trial, though one has already pleaded guilty-which began in early 2020 and coalesced over that summer, took place within this wider polarized political context. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021. This culminated in a group of armed men storming the Capitol building in Lansing, Michigan, on April 30, 2020, an event with clear parallels to the storming of the U.S. Former President Donald Trump publicly disparaged “the woman in Michigan” because her efforts to combat coronavirus contradicted his own desire to “open up” the United States, which helped fuel a wave of protest. In the midst of the pandemic, in which Michigan had some of the highest infection rates in the United States, Whitmer, who had declared a state of emergency and instituted a “stay-at-home” order, became the focus of considerable ire from those opposed to her response to the unprecedented public health crisis.
Abstract: On October 8, 2020, Michigan’s Attorney General revealed that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies had thwarted a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer.
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