An intensive examination of court filings in the state and federal prosecutions of the 14 alleged Gretchen Whitmer kidnap plotters raises disturbing questions about whether the threat to the governor was an actual plot, or a set-up orchestrated by the FBI.
The online news outlet BuzzFeed combed through legal documents and interviewed defense attorneys and others with knowledge of the case.
The work of investigative reporters Ken Bensinger and Jessica Garrison raises the credible possibility that without the aggressive encouragement of undercover FBI agents and informants, there would have been no kidnap plot.
The feds used at least 12 informants in its investigation, just two fewer than the number of suspects.
Many were assigned to infiltrate the various right-wing militia groups whose members came together to plan and train for an assault on Whitmer.
The informants, though, were not mere flies on the wall, according to BuzzFeed.
Rather, they appear to have been active participants in the planning of and training for what prosecutors charge was an elaborate scheme to snatch Whitmer from her northern Michigan vacation home last October and put her on trial as a “tyrant.”
And the whole thing may have been the FBI’s idea in the first place.
Defense attorneys appear poised to make a case for entrapment when trials begin in state and federal courts this fall.
The defendants, members of the Patriot movement, mostly acknowledge engaging in “fantasy” talk about killing police officers and overthrowing the government.
But they claim it was nothing but jawboning until the FBI got involved.
Defense attorneys will argue that infiltrators recruited by the FBI took this ragtag group of loud-mouthed yahoos and molded them into a kidnap squad, training them to do what they never could have done on their own.
According to BuzzFeed, prosecutors maintain their case is solid and the accused presented a serious danger to the governor. One defendant has already pleaded guilty for conspiracy.
The report says a lead informant, an Iraq war vet, was coaxed into service by agents after he reported disturbing contacts with militia members advocating violence against police.
The informant, known only as Dan, would later on help give flesh to the big talk of militia members about punishing Whitmer for her COVID-19 shutdown orders, according to the reporting.
Dan trained the defendants in military assault tactics and, while not on the FBI payroll, the agency, according to the reporters, bought him a car and paid his mortgage. His total take was more than $54,000 for seven months work.
Other infiltrators encouraged the recruiting of additional extremists to the plotting, paying for an Ohio hotel conference where anti-government groups from throughout the country convened.
Defense attorneys will argue that it was the FBI operatives who congealed the plot and provided the resources to keep it moving ahead.
Why would the FBI do that? Perhaps to exaggerate the threat of domestic terrorism and support the narrative that White nationalists are the biggest risk facing the nation.
Whatever the reason, the agency employed a reckless tactic.
Given the large number of FBI operatives involved and the integral role the defense claims they played in the scheme, it seems unlikely that things could have gotten out of control and led to an actual attack on Whitmer.
But that’s not certain. Had the governor been harmed, how much responsibility would the FBI have borne for watering the seed of the plot and nurturing its growth?
Twitter: @NolanFinleyDN
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The FBI seems to have been involed in many dubious ventures as of late, some quite frightening that a government agency would connect itself with while others teetering on the edge of unethical and unconstitutional. It’s on thing to infiltrate to gain information it’s quite another to aid and abet scenarios that are criminal in their inception.
AND folks wonder why i think the ENTIRE ORG needs to get scorched to the earth.. THERE ARE NO “Good agents” left imo, the totality of it, is rotten to the core..
The FBI is no longer an honorable law enforcement since it has gotten in bed with the Dishonorable, Dishonest, Ethical, Socialist Democrat Party.
We have seen many examples of the FBI’s unethical and political biased tactics.
We have seen how the FBI has gone after President Trump and his cabinet with no proof, just allegations and they let Hillary Clinton and other Democrats slide when their was proof of illegal activity. Hillary has admitted to destroying subpoenaed evidence after she was on notice of the existence subpoena. That’s known as obstruction of justice as well as destruction of the documents. But none of her crimes will get to first base in terms of prosecution.
Democrat Nancy Pelosi admitted an unfortunate truth about her fabricated impeachment “farce”
– It hinges on witness’s “allegations” not “proof”.
It’s Not A Question” Of “Proof”, It’s About “Allegations”
https://youtu.be/7dzhIxeF204
ITS not just the FBI that needs to go, but DOIJ as well.
If it was the FBI, they operated under their normal snafu (acronym). If I wanted a job of that caliber done right, I’ll be damned if I would solicit their services. But if you would like to try one more time with Biden . . .
It wouldn’t surprise me at all. It wouldn’t be the first time that the FBI has orchestrated something like this. It was an FBI informant named Gary Thomas Rowe who planned and carried out the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. The four who were actually accused didn’t do anything. In fact, they wanted nothing to do with any violence like that and tried to talk Rowe out of it.
Not shocking to me one bit.. Not at all.
FYI, there are also several indications that the January 6th incident was also propagated by the FBI. There were many FNI informants and possibly agents in the crowd that day. Witnesses say that the FBI informants were inciting the crowd to storm the capital. Tucker Carlson reported this weeks ago
Maybe that’s why the DOJ/NSA are trying to go AFTER Tucker.
The FBI used to be considered the standard to which other law organizations strives to be, now it is nothing more than an arm of the Democrats! The mafia had enforcers, the Dems have the FBI.
As a kid, i used to look up to the FBI.. Now days, its MORE corrupt and useless, than the bloody CIA.