WHITE SUPREMACIST TERRORISTS also discussed abducting Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, agent says
Anti-lockdown protesters demonstrate from their vehicles as they call for Gov. Ralph Northam to "reopen Virginia" amid the COVID-19 pandemic, near the statehouse in Richmond, Va., on April 22. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo
Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Members of right-wing militias who are accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also discussed "taking" Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, an FBI agent testified on Tuesday.
FBI Special Agent Richard Trask told a federal court in Grand Rapids, Mich., that the men charged with conspiring to abduct Whitmer also discussed abducting Northam -- primarily due to their lockdown orders earlier this year intended to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The militia members have not been charged with plotting against Northam, who came under some criticism in Virginia for his efforts to contain the pandemic.
Northam has been Virginia's Democratic governor since 2018
Anti-lockdown protesters demonstrate from their vehicles as they call for Gov. Ralph Northam to "reopen Virginia" amid the COVID-19 pandemic, near the statehouse in Richmond, Va., on April 22. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo
Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Members of right-wing militias who are accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also discussed "taking" Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, an FBI agent testified on Tuesday.
FBI Special Agent Richard Trask told a federal court in Grand Rapids, Mich., that the men charged with conspiring to abduct Whitmer also discussed abducting Northam -- primarily due to their lockdown orders earlier this year intended to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The militia members have not been charged with plotting against Northam, who came under some criticism in Virginia for his efforts to contain the pandemic.
Northam has been Virginia's Democratic governor since 2018
.
RELATED Plot to kidnap Mich. governor grew from militia's constitutional falsehoods
Trask testified at a hearing in the U.S. District Court of Western Michigan on possible bond for three of the six federal defendants, who are charged in connection with the plot to abduct Whitmer. The FBI has described the plot as an act of domestic terrorism.
Suspect Adam Fox is seen in a booking photo after his arrest on charges that he and other militia members plotted to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Photo via Kent County Sheriff's Office/UPI
Defendants Adam Fox, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta entered the courtroom in shackles for Tuesday's detention hearing.
Trask identified the 37-year-old Fox as the group's ringleader, saying he ordered surveillance at Whitmer's vacation home and at one point suggested taking the governor out on a boat and leaving her in a lake.
RELATED Plot to kidnap Mich. governor grew from militia's constitutional falsehoods
Trask testified at a hearing in the U.S. District Court of Western Michigan on possible bond for three of the six federal defendants, who are charged in connection with the plot to abduct Whitmer. The FBI has described the plot as an act of domestic terrorism.
Suspect Adam Fox is seen in a booking photo after his arrest on charges that he and other militia members plotted to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Photo via Kent County Sheriff's Office/UPI
Defendants Adam Fox, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta entered the courtroom in shackles for Tuesday's detention hearing.
Trask identified the 37-year-old Fox as the group's ringleader, saying he ordered surveillance at Whitmer's vacation home and at one point suggested taking the governor out on a boat and leaving her in a lake.
RELATED Michigan governor moved several times as kidnap plot evolved, official says
He also testified that some members of the "Wolverine Watchmen" militia attended a Second Amendment rally at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing in June, where they allegedly attempted to recruit members from outside their region.
A police official said last week Whitmer was moved around several times as a safety precaution as the FBI monitored the unfolding plot before the men were arrested.
Some experts say militias like the one involved in Whitmer's case are devoted to a so-called "alt-right constitution," which they say is a toxic mix of constitutional falsehoods and half-truths.
An FBI Agent Said Members Of A Militant Group Also Discussed Kidnapping The Governor Of Virginia
Three of the suspects were denied bond. There is a hearing for the other two suspects on Friday.
Last updated on October 13, 2020
Jeff Kowalsky / Getty Images, Bob Brown / AP
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.
The suspects accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also discussed kidnapping the governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, over the state’s lockdown orders, according to testimony by an FBI agent Tuesday.
Special FBI agent Richard Trask, who was part of the investigation that thwarted a plot by right-wing militants to kidnap Whitmer at her vacation home before the Nov. 3 election, testified during a preliminary examination in US District Court in Grand Rapids. Six men were arrested for the kidnapping plot last week. Seven additional men, known to be members or associates of the group Wolverine Watchmen, face terrorism-related charges.
Trask testified that members of the right-wing militant group discussed kidnapping the Virginia governor during a June meeting in Ohio of multiple groups from "four to five" different states. Trask did not specifically name Northam.
“They discussed possible targets, taking a sitting governor, specifically issues with the governor of Michigan and Virginia based on the lockdown orders,” Trask said, adding that people in the meeting were unhappy with the governors’ responses to the coronavirus pandemic.
President Donald Trump has in the past embraced violent far-right groups who oppose the racial justice movement and coronavirus lockdowns. In April he tweeted “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” and "LIBERATE VIRGINIA!"
Northam's press secretary, Alena Yarmosky, issued a statement Tuesday casting blame on Trump's rhetoric.
"Here’s the reality: President Trump called upon his supporters to 'LIBERATE VIRGINIA' in April — just like Michigan," Yarmosky said in a statement. "In fact, the President regularly encourages violence against those who disagree with him. The rhetoric coming out of this White House has serious and potentially deadly consequences. It must stop."
Yarmosky added that the FBI had alerted key members of the governor's security team throughout the course of its investigation.
"Per security protocols for highly-classified information, neither the Governor nor other members of his staff were informed. At no time was the Governor or his family in imminent danger."
At Tuesday's hearing, a judge ordered three of the defendants, Kaleb Franks, Brandon Caserta, and Daniel Harris, to be jailed without bond. The hearings for two other men, Adam Fox and Ty Garbin, were moved to Friday. The sixth man, Barry Croft, was being held in Delaware, and was ordered to be transferred to Michigan.
During the hearing, multiple videos taken by some of the accused during "field training exercises," self-styled military training that included firearms training, medical training, and drills, were played for the courtroom, as were recordings where the men could be heard joking about kidnapping.
The men spoke together mainly on Wire, an encrypted messaging service app, where they used pseudonyms and shared videos and photos. In one, Garbin shared a photo of a short-barreled rifle, which the FBI agent noted is an illegal weapon, with a silencer attached. Authorities also played a Snapchat video filmed by Garbin showing his gun locker with multiple weapons, including that short-barreled rifle.
The group chat was initially called "Fuck around find out" and then "Bonfire Party," and was later renamed "The Boys" as their chat focused on their alleged plan to kidnap the governor from her vacation home in rural Michigan.
The app was chosen specifically so it could be deleted "with the click of a button" if federal agents found it, Harris wrote in the chat, not knowing that feds were being leaked the chats by one of the people in it.
At one point in August, a former member of the Wolverine Watchmen warned the men that "cops just questioned my old housemate, and my actions in the boogaloo movement," referring to the loosely organized far-right anti-government extremist movement.
FBI agent Trask pointed out that while leaders of the Wolverine Watchmen were encouraging their members to attend anti-lockdown protests, members of this accused group instead tried to keep a low public profile in recent months as they planned to kidnap the governor before next month's presidential election.
During Trask’s cross-examination, some of the defendants' attorneys suggested that “militia” group members were “military wannabes” and “crack pots who talk big” and that it was impossible to determine whether they intend to commit criminal activity.
However, Trask testified that the defendants openly talked about committing a crime — kidnapping the governor of Michigan.
Mary Ann Georgantopoulos is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.
Amber Jamieson is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.
Three of the suspects were denied bond. There is a hearing for the other two suspects on Friday.
Last updated on October 13, 2020
Jeff Kowalsky / Getty Images, Bob Brown / AP
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.
The suspects accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also discussed kidnapping the governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, over the state’s lockdown orders, according to testimony by an FBI agent Tuesday.
Special FBI agent Richard Trask, who was part of the investigation that thwarted a plot by right-wing militants to kidnap Whitmer at her vacation home before the Nov. 3 election, testified during a preliminary examination in US District Court in Grand Rapids. Six men were arrested for the kidnapping plot last week. Seven additional men, known to be members or associates of the group Wolverine Watchmen, face terrorism-related charges.
Trask testified that members of the right-wing militant group discussed kidnapping the Virginia governor during a June meeting in Ohio of multiple groups from "four to five" different states. Trask did not specifically name Northam.
“They discussed possible targets, taking a sitting governor, specifically issues with the governor of Michigan and Virginia based on the lockdown orders,” Trask said, adding that people in the meeting were unhappy with the governors’ responses to the coronavirus pandemic.
President Donald Trump has in the past embraced violent far-right groups who oppose the racial justice movement and coronavirus lockdowns. In April he tweeted “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” and "LIBERATE VIRGINIA!"
Northam's press secretary, Alena Yarmosky, issued a statement Tuesday casting blame on Trump's rhetoric.
"Here’s the reality: President Trump called upon his supporters to 'LIBERATE VIRGINIA' in April — just like Michigan," Yarmosky said in a statement. "In fact, the President regularly encourages violence against those who disagree with him. The rhetoric coming out of this White House has serious and potentially deadly consequences. It must stop."
Yarmosky added that the FBI had alerted key members of the governor's security team throughout the course of its investigation.
"Per security protocols for highly-classified information, neither the Governor nor other members of his staff were informed. At no time was the Governor or his family in imminent danger."
At Tuesday's hearing, a judge ordered three of the defendants, Kaleb Franks, Brandon Caserta, and Daniel Harris, to be jailed without bond. The hearings for two other men, Adam Fox and Ty Garbin, were moved to Friday. The sixth man, Barry Croft, was being held in Delaware, and was ordered to be transferred to Michigan.
During the hearing, multiple videos taken by some of the accused during "field training exercises," self-styled military training that included firearms training, medical training, and drills, were played for the courtroom, as were recordings where the men could be heard joking about kidnapping.
The men spoke together mainly on Wire, an encrypted messaging service app, where they used pseudonyms and shared videos and photos. In one, Garbin shared a photo of a short-barreled rifle, which the FBI agent noted is an illegal weapon, with a silencer attached. Authorities also played a Snapchat video filmed by Garbin showing his gun locker with multiple weapons, including that short-barreled rifle.
The group chat was initially called "Fuck around find out" and then "Bonfire Party," and was later renamed "The Boys" as their chat focused on their alleged plan to kidnap the governor from her vacation home in rural Michigan.
The app was chosen specifically so it could be deleted "with the click of a button" if federal agents found it, Harris wrote in the chat, not knowing that feds were being leaked the chats by one of the people in it.
At one point in August, a former member of the Wolverine Watchmen warned the men that "cops just questioned my old housemate, and my actions in the boogaloo movement," referring to the loosely organized far-right anti-government extremist movement.
FBI agent Trask pointed out that while leaders of the Wolverine Watchmen were encouraging their members to attend anti-lockdown protests, members of this accused group instead tried to keep a low public profile in recent months as they planned to kidnap the governor before next month's presidential election.
During Trask’s cross-examination, some of the defendants' attorneys suggested that “militia” group members were “military wannabes” and “crack pots who talk big” and that it was impossible to determine whether they intend to commit criminal activity.
However, Trask testified that the defendants openly talked about committing a crime — kidnapping the governor of Michigan.
Mary Ann Georgantopoulos is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.
Amber Jamieson is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.
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