March 13, 2022 at 1:20pm
In October 2020, 14 arrests were made due to an alleged shocking plot to kidnap the sitting governor of one of the country’s most populous states.
As more details were revealed, it became clear the FBI was involved in not only arresting the suspects in an alleged plan to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, but also in helping to plot to take form in the first place.
At the opening of the trial last week for four of the men charged, defense attorneys made a stunning claim: Not only did the FBI entrap the accused, but an FBI informant plied the suspects with drugs.
As most of America probably remembers, the men arrested in the plot were said to be hostile to Whitmer due to her extreme COVID-19 lockdown policies.
At the time of the men’s arrests in October 2020,
NPR reported that the suspects were paramilitary members who intended to not only kidnap but possibly kill Whitmer.
In the home stretch of the 2020 presidential campaign, the incident was
politized into a smear on then-President Donald Trump.
Later, in a Jan. 24, 2021, report,
The New York Times made a groundless connection between the plot and the Capitol incursion. The so-called “newspaper of record” claimed the arrested Michigan men were evidence of a right-wing, anti-government movement agitating for insurrection and civil war.
In the same article, though, the Times had to make some awkward admissions, such as that there were 12 FBI informants and additional undercover agents involved in infiltrating the group. Considering that 14 men were actually arrested, that means FBI-related individuals matched actual suspects on almost a one-for-one basis.
And it wasn’t just numbers. The informants held key roles in the alleged “plot,” as well.
The man whom defense lawyers describe as the main organizer of the plot was an FBI informant known as “Big Dan.” The explosives group’s expert was also an undercover agent, according to the Times.
In fact, the Times report opens with a dramatic scene of the alleged plotters on a reconnaissance trip to Whitmer’s vacation cottage in Birch Lake, Michigan. Four of the dozen men on that mission were actually working for the FBI, according to the Times.
The law enforcement elements reportedly
pushed the kidnapping plan forward. Without these federal promptings, would any of the other men actually taken any action?
In a telling move, the prosecutors want to keep some of the agents off the stand. One FBI agent was fired after a domestic abuse incident.
And now, according to
Just the News, as the domestic terrorism trial of four of the defendants began Wednesday, the defense told the jury that one of the FBI informants would provide marijuana to the group before recording their conversations.
The defense attorneys noted this same informant only made selective recordings. They claimed their clients were entrapped by FBI drugs and trickery.
Now, there’s no question that federal law enforcement should be investigating organizations planning violence and destruction. There’s also no question that having informants inside a criminal organization is a great way to gather evidence and information.
But organizing and leading an ultimately fictitious plot to kidnap the governor of the nation’s
10th largest state with the idea of enticing others to join is a different matter altogether.
And feeding drugs to potential criminals, then recording their words and actions with an eye toward a future prosecution, should be beyond the pale for law enforcement in a constitutional republic. And if it’s an FBI informant providing the drugs while working on the FBI’s behalf, the dope might as well have come straight from the bureau’s J. Edgar Hoover Building headquarters in D.C.
If the FBI really were interested in tracking down potential domestic terrorists,
antifa and
Black Lives Matter activities should be able to keep the bureau plenty busy.
But instead of going after the real terrorists in our midst — the kind who commit violence that caused injuries,
deaths and over
$1 billion in damage in the summer and fall of 2020 — the FBI apparently spent that year on the hunt for the supposed right-wing terrorists
FBI Director Christopher Wray claims are the greatest threat facing America.
If they’re not dangerous enough alone, it appears the FBI activates agents provocateurs. And if what defense lawyers in the Whitmer kidnap plot say trial say is true, the FBI has no compunction about feeding drugs like marijuana to its targets, just to make them easier prey down the line.
The FBI is more concerned with fulfilling a political narrative than fighting crime. And that should infuriate every American.
www.westernjournal.com
www.bbc.com
