The kidnapping plot against Michigan Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, was stopped after 13 men were arrested by state officials. This was done with the help of undercover agents and several other informants.
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Six of the conspirators identified themselves as Adam Fox, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, Brandon Caserta – all of them from Michigan and Barry Croft of Delaware. They were charged directly in the federal court. Seven others were charged in state court for trying to ambush the police officials and the state Capitol. “All of us in Michigan can disagree about politics, but those disagreements should never, ever amount to violence. Violence has been prevented today.” said the Detroit U.S. Attorney, Matthew Schnieder, to the reporters.
What was the plan?
The plan included overthrowing the government of Michigan by kidnapping the governor and trying her for treason. The alleged plotters “agreed to unite others in their cause and take violent action against multiple state governments that they believe are violating the U.S. Constitution”, said the FBI.
Four of the men were planning on meeting on Wednesday to buy explosives and exchange tactical gear. The men have been planning the details for months. Some of them are even identified to be members of militia groups. They wanted to execute their plan of action prior to the US Presidential election which is all set to take place on 3rd November.
An FBI affidavit said. “The group talked about creating a society that followed the U.S Bill of Rights and where they could be self-sufficient.” Also, they added, “They discussed different ways of achieving this goal from peaceful endeavours to violent actions… Several members talked about murdering ‘tyrants’ or ‘taking’ a sitting governor.”
Facebook played its part
The alleged conspirators planned much of their schemes through social media page Facebook. This made it much easier to track them down. This time, Facebook has become successful in stopping the unlawful act. It said that it had “proactively reached out and cooperated with the FBI.”
“We remove content, disable accounts and immediately report to law enforcement when there is a credible threat of imminent harm to people or public safety.”
Responding to the scenario
While addressing the Press about the event, Whitammer did not hesitate to blame Donald Trump which caused the situation. She said.
“This should be a moment for national unity where we all pulled together as Americans to meet this challenge head-on. Instead, our head of state has spent the past seven months denying science, ignoring his own health experts, stoking distrust, fermenting anger and giving comfort to those who spread fear and hatred and division.”
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Whitmer has been in the spotlight for several months, mostly because of her coronavirus policies. She received wide appreciation from some but the majority of them took a contrasting view. She put heavy restrictions on the movement of people within the state. Last week, The Michigan Supreme Court identified many of the orders put forth by the Governor as unconstitutional.