Six Men Indicted in Alleged Plot To Kidnap Gretchen Whitmer | Eastern NC Now

Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the LifeZette. The author of this post is James Samson.

    Six men were indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday for plotting to kidnap Michigan's Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

    Federal investigators described the men as anti-government extremists who were angry over her strict COVID-19 policies, according to the Associated Press.

    The indictment, which was released by by U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge, identified the six men as Adam Dean Fox, Barry Gordon Croft Jr., Ty Gerard Garbin, Kaleb James Franks, Daniel Joseph Harris and Brandon Michael-Ray Caserta. All of the men are from Michigan except for Croft, who is from Delaware.

    Birge confirmed that the maximum sentence for this charge is live in prison.

    The indictment states that between June 6 and October 7, the men conspired to "unlawfully seize, kidnap, abduct and carry away, and hold for ransom and reward" Whitmer, according to CNN. Their plot involved them kidnapping Whitmer from her vacation home and blowing up a bridge to delay law enforcement from trying to rescue her, but they were arrested before they could put their plan into motion.

    These men were arrested on October 7 after they scheduled a meeting with an undercover FBI agent in which they would buy explosives and other supplies.

    Eight other men who are said to be associates of these six have been charged in state court with counts including providing material support for terrorist acts.

    Whitmer has long tried to place some of the blame for this kidnapping plot on President Donald Trump and his rhetoric despite the fact that he had nothing to do with it. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, however, has shot these attempts down.

    "Trump has continually condemned white supremacists and all forms of hate," she said, according to Fox News. "Whitmer, and now Governor Northam, are sowing division by making these outlandish allegations. America stands united against hate and in support of our federal law enforcement who stopped this plot."