Appeals Court Hammers Prosecution About FBI Conduct In Whitmer Kidnap Plot

The much-anticipated appeal hearing was held Thursday for Barry Croft and Adam Fox, the alleged “ringleaders” of the 2020 militia conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Croft and Fox were convicted of plotting to kidnap Whitmer after their second trial in late 2022. At their first trial earlier that year, a jury acquitted two other men while failing to reach a verdict for Croft and Fox.

The two men appealed their convictions on multiple grounds. Thursday’s hearing focused largely on the conduct of FBI informants and their handling agents.

Croft’s attorney, Timothy Sweeney, argued that his client should get a retrial because he wasn’t allowed to introduce numerous text messages that showed improper conduct by the FBI.

Those text messages showed how FBI informants were pressuring Fox and Croft to formulate a plan against Whitmer. A list of the texts can be found in this document.

Representing the government, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler argued that the FBI text messages were irrelevant because Fox and Croft were already predisposed to committing an act of terrorism.

All the [FBI] statements identified by defense go to inducement. If jury found they were predisposed [to kidnapping Whitmer], none of that matters,” Kessler said. “This court has held that entrapment can only happen if the government plants an idea in an innocent persons’ head.”

The appeals justices expressed skepticism about Kessler’s argument. One justice disagreed with the prosecutor’s reading of the law.

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Inside The FBI-Tainted Whitmer ‘Kidnap Plot’ You’ve Heard Almost Nothing About

In a fiery exchange last month, CNN anchorwoman Abby Phillip told GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy that there was “no evidence” to support his claim that federal agents abetted protesters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Ramaswamy shot back that the FBI conspicuously has never denied that law enforcement agents were on duty in the crowd. He argued that federal officials have repeatedly “lied” to the American people about not only that investigation but one that has gotten much less attention: the alleged failed plot to kidnap and kill Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan in 2020.

“It was entrapment,” Ramaswamy said. “FBI agents putting them up to a kidnapping plot that we were told was true but wasn’t.”

His zeroing in on the Michigan case highlighted an uncharacteristic development in contemporary politics, where progressives vigorously defend law enforcement power while conservatives view it with deep suspicion. Further, Ramaswamy’s linking of Jan. 6 and the Whitmer plot resonated with many on the right who want similarities between the two episodes exposed to the general public, especially the FBI’s reliance on informants and other paid operatives.

On Oct. 8, 2020, Whitmer announced the shocking arrests of several men accused of planning to kidnap and possibly assassinate her. The case produced alarming headlines just weeks before Election Day; Democrats, including Whitmer, used news of the plot to blame Trump for inciting violence.

Joe Biden commended the FBI for thwarting the abduction plan and, in a written statement issued the same day, claimed that “there is a through line from President Trump’s dog whistles and tolerance of hate, vengeance, and lawlessness to plots such as this one.” Biden continued that line of attack during campaign speeches in Michigan, a swing state that voted for Trump in 2016, and one Biden needed to capture to win the presidency.

In the years since the election, the national press has given little attention to the case since the initial arrests, even though court documents have recast the episode as something more sinister. Instead of a heroic effort by the FBI to safeguard the country from domestic terrorists, it now appears to have been a broad conspiracy by law enforcement to entrap American citizens who held unpopular political views.

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Three men accused of Gretchen Whitmer kidnap plot ACQUITTED

The last three men who were charged in a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer have all been found not guilty. William Null, twin brother Michael Null and Eric Molitor were among the 14 charged in the alleged plot, and all three have been acquitted.

Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. were convicted of kidnapping conspiracy in 2022. The two were also found guilty of conspiring to obtain a weapon of mass destruction such as a bomb to destroy a bridge near the governor’s vacation home.

William and Michael Null as well as Eric Molitor were found not guilty of providing support for a terrorist act and a weapons charge, according to WLNS 6.

The three were accused of supporting the plan’s leaders by participating in military-style drills, as well as traveling to see Whitmer’s northern Michigan vacation home.

According to MSNBC, two of the three testified that they took part in these drills but did not know of the plan until the end.

Adam Fox, the co-leader of the plot, was sentenced to 16 years in prison in December of 2022. Government prosecutors had pushed for a life sentence, but the judge said this was “not necessary” to achieve the purposes of providing punishment and deterrence to commit further acts.

Fox and Croft Jr. were convicted in a second trial after a Grand Rapids jury could not reach a unanimous verdict during the first.

William Null testified that he and his brother walked away when talks turned to obtaining explosives. Molitor said Fox was “incredibly dumb” and wouldn’t pull off a kidnapping.

Two others were previously acquitted of charges.

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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer received email in Greek from consultant to shield it from the public: lawsuit

Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer received a coded email related to her administration’s response to a local water crisis in an apparent attempt to hide the sensitive communication from the public, a lawsuit alleges. 

The email was disguised in Greek alphabet font and sent by Andrew Leavitt, a consultant to Michigan’s energy department, to Whitmer’s senior energy adviser Kara Cook in September of 2021, according to a class action lawsuit filed.

“Hot off the presses. As I warned there are some major red flags. It seems like we are back at square one having not learned from Flint,” reads Leavitt’s decoded email, which was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon on Wednesday after a June court filing in the case. 

Leavitt served as a consultant for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.

The use of the Greek language and alphabet “appears to be calculated to conceal the statements,” the court filing states, noting that Leavitt “prefaced his grave concerns about the water crises with a reference back to his prior warnings and the State and City Defendants’ failure to learn from the Flint tragedy.“

Since the email was written in Greek, it would not have been included in public records requests for government communications containing words such as “Flint” or “red flags.”

Michigan’s public records department cannot electronically search for material written using the Greek alphabet, the Washington Free Beacon reported. 

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Whitmer Concedes Her COVID Rules Didn’t Make Sense

Nowhere did the COVID hysteria blight the land as remorselessly as it did in Gretchen Whitmer’s Michigan, and now that the Left’s lockdown narrative has thoroughly unraveled, the embattled governor will need a new fake FBI kidnapping plot to divert attention from how she drove her once-thriving state into a ditch and revealed a disturbing taste for authoritarianism. Now, Whitmer is backpedaling furiously, even admitting on CNN Sunday night that many of her COVID measures “in retrospect, don’t make a lot of sense.” Uh, yeah. We could have told you that several years ago, Governor, but you would have dismissed us as purveyors of “disinformation.”

Even in the midst of making this concession, however, Whitmer tried to cover her tracks and justify her COVID measures. Michigan Capitol Confidential ( “Michigan’s Watchdog,” a publication of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy) noted Tuesday that during her conversation with Chris Wallace, Whitmer “misrepresented her COVID-19 record and used a false talking point to question Florida’s COVID data.” Wallace asked her what she would do differently if the COVID insanity began today. He pressed the governor — who forced people to remain in their homes, forcibly closed businesses and schools, and even prohibited people from buying seeds for their gardens and toys for their children — for specifics on how she might handle the same situation now.

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Just Doing Her Job… Female FBI Agent Slept with Target Barry Croft in Hotel, in Same Bed, During Training Weekend Paid for by FBI and Smoked Pot with Him in FBI-Hatched Whitmer Kidnapping Hoax

In an October 2020 press conference, the FBI announced it had thwarted a plot by a so-called “right-wing militia” to kidnap and kill Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

The Whitmer kidnapping plot was in the media 24/7 and used to bludgeon Trump with just a few weeks to go until Election Day.

The FBI used at least 12 informants in the Michigan Whitmer kidnapping case.

There were 6 defendants and 12 FBI informants identified as the case progressed.

The FBI planned the Whitmer attack, organized the attack, paid for the attack, and recruited local men to join in their planned attack.

It was another complete setup by Chris Wray’s FBI to frame and ruin innocent men.

The case, which we now know was comprised of virtually all FBI agents and informants, took another devastating hit in August.

Michael Hills, an attorney for Brandon Caserta, one of the six defendants, produced text messages showing an FBI field agent telling an informant to lie, frame an innocent man and delete text messages.

This is why federal prosecutors are refusing to hand over text messages and laptops from FBI informants in the Whitmer kidnapping case. The FBI actually hatched the plot. paid for the plot, ran the plot, and set up the innocent men in their immoral scheme.

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Gov. Whitmer Caught Maskless at DC Bar in Violation of Mandates

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) was caught maskless at a Washington, D.C. cocktail bar Friday night, just hours before pulling out of Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe’s door-knocking campaign scheduled for the following morning, in her latest violation of COVID-19 policies.

Video obtained by The Washington Free Beacon shows Whitmer maskless in the standing-room-only section of the crowded bar at the Hotel Washington.

A hotel employee told the news outlet that bar guests must wear face coverings when not actively eating or drinking, neither of which Whitmer was doing. Several people congregating near her, however, were wearing masks.

The governor was also in violation of Washington, D.C.’s local mask mandate, reinstated in July by Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) amid a spike of coronavirus cases caused by the highly infectious delta variant. Restaurants and other establishments that fail to enforce Bowser’s order face potential warnings, fines and the revocation of licenses.

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Federal Prosecutors Refuse to Hand Over Text Messages, Laptops From FBI Informants in Whitmer Kidnapping Case

Federal prosecutors are refusing to hand over text messages and laptops from FBI informants in the Whitmer kidnapping case.

In October 2020, the FBI announced during a press conference that it thwarted a plot by a so-called “right-wing militia” to kidnap and kill Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and overthrow the state government.

The Whitmer kidnapping plot was in the media 24/7 and used to bludgeon Trump with just a few weeks to go until Election Day.

The FBI used at least 12 informants in the Michigan Whitmer kidnapping case.

There are 6 defendants and 12 FBI informants.

According to report BuzzFeed News published last month, the FBI was involved in every aspect of the Whitmer kidnapping case – starting with its inception!

FBI informants/agents actually helped hatch the kidnapping plot which means there would be no conspiracy case without the FBI.

One FBI informant organized all the meetings early on and paid for hotel rooms and food to entice the patsies.

It is illegal for FBI informants to hatch plots and encourage violence.

Defense lawyers are arguing the informants drew people into the conspiracy and that there is potential evidence of entrapment.

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It Sure Looks Like the FBI Basically Orchestrated the Gretchen Whitmer ‘Kidnapping’ Plot

In news that’s flying below the radar a bit, more evidence of just how corrupt and compromised the FBI has become emerged today.

You may recall the much-ballyhooed plot to supposedly kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last year. Arrests were made in October of 2020, with the claim being that the FBI had stopped the kidnapping plot as well as a plan to overthrow the government. After it came out in the weeks following the bust that one of the participants was anti-Trump and a Black Lives Matter supporter, the story quickly died down.

All of this was intertwined at the time with the politics of Whitmer’s controversial COVID policies. Earlier in the same year, there had been demonstrations at the state’s capital that drew lots of press attention and condemnation. The insinuation pushed by the media was that those demonstrations had provoked the kidnapping plot.

But now, a big curveball is being thrown into the mix regarding what actually happened. Apparently, the FBI didn’t just have informants within the group where the arrests were made. Rather, FBI operatives played a key role in the planning of the entire ordeal and were also seemingly instrumental in birthing the plot.

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FBI Agent In ‘Whitmer Kidnapping Entrapment Plot’ Arrested For Beating His Wife

An FBI agent who worked together with at least 12 FBI informants to allegedly entrap a small group of patsies in a plot to “kidnap” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was criminally charged on Monday for beating his wife. 

The alleged inability of FBI special agent Richard Trask, 39, to resist beating his wife for just a couple of months as the case go to trial may now end up jeopardizing the FBI’s entire suspected entrapment operation. 

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