By FBI Agent Who ‘Targeted’ MI Militia To Kidnap Guv Breaks Silence
Four men charged with planning to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 recently saw the FBI informants and federal agents who, according to the AP, “targeted them for their anti-government views” in court. The men, upset by Whitmer’s COVID-19 restrictions she imposed on the Great Lakes State early in the pandemic, allegedly recruited militia members and planned to “break into Whitmer’s home, tie her up and take her” before investigators stepped in and stopped them.
At the trial, the undercover FBI agent who went by “Red” when he was part of the group testified that he was tasked with ensuring that the suspects did not actually go through with the plot.
The Detroit Free Press reported, “Red’ is the undercover agent who tricked the defendants by pretending he had access to bomb-making materials, telling the jury accused ringleader Adam Fox placed a $4,000 order with him for explosives and asked him for an IOU because he didn’t have all the money yet.
According to ‘Red,’ the explosives would be used to blow up a bridge near Whitmer’s vacation house to slow down law enforcement following the kidnapping. ‘Red’ said he was with the group when they discussed this plan, and when Fox stopped along the side of a highway one night to inspect a bridge to see if there were suitable spots for placing explosives.
‘We were to look at the bridge to survey it to see what type of explosives would be appropriate,’ Red testified. ‘He said he wanted to take the bridge out to slow police response to the kidnapping.’
Red also told the jury that defendant Barry Croft discussed blowing up telephone poles and utility lines as another way to slow down law enforcement.”
The agent told the court that he rode in the car with the accused as they went to scope out Whitmer’s summer vacation home, inspecting a bridge they intended to blow up.
In court, ‘Red’ revealed his real name: Special FBI agent Timothy Bates, and detailed how he infiltrated the Wolverine Watchmen militia to stop them from making their bombs of their own or kidnapping the Michigan governor.
“They needed someone to step in and control the timeline,” Bates declared, telling the jury that he offered to put together $4,000 worth of explosives for the group.
The case has been described as “muddled” due to the fact that so many FBI agents and informants took part in the planning of the plot to kidnap Governor Whitmer. The New York Times reported, “Both the prosecution and the defense are relying heavily on more than 1,000 hours of conversations and other events secretly recorded by informants or undercover agents. The defense lawyers want the case thrown out on entrapment grounds, accusing investigators of “egregious overreaching” by manipulating the accused men to drive the plot forward.”
During the investigation of the plot, Buzzfeed found that the FBI deployed at least 12 agents and informants in the event. “The case seemed like a lock — until an informant and one FBI agent were charged with crimes, another was accused of perjury, and a third was found promoting a private security firm,” another story on the site revealed.
[Read More: Disney Changes ‘boys,’ ‘girls’ Language]
