13 militiamen held in attempted kidnap of Michigan's governor

Thirteen men who are members of two militia groups have been arrested and accused of separate plots to kidnap Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer before the Nov 3 presidential election and put her on trial, but authorities said the plot was foiled by the FBI through its use of informants.

Six were arrested Wednesday on federal charges of conspiracy to commit kidnapping; seven others were picked up on state charges, officials said. The six could face life in prison if convicted. The seven men were charged with state crimes, which carry penalties of two to 20 years in prison. It wasn't immediately clear how the two groups were coordinating their plans.

For months, Whitmer has drawn the ire of militia groups and others opposed to her restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the novel coronavirus.

In an address from the state capital of Lansing late Thursday afternoon following the arrests, she said that she "never could have imagined anything like this".

"We are not one another's enemy," Whitmer said. "This virus is our enemy."

But she accused President Donald Trump of being "complicit" through his rhetoric.

"Just last week, the president of the United States stood before the American people and refused to condemn white supremacists and hate groups like these two Michigan militia groups," the governor said.

Armed protesters took to the streets of Lansing during the early days of her coronavirus lockdown. In April, Trump tweeted "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!"

The FBI said it collected information about the kidnapping plot from informants and undercover agents. The agency paid one of the informants more than $14,000 and another $8,600, according to an affidavit released Thursday.

Over the summer, the conspirators allegedly began training for a potential attack on Whitmer's vacation home or the governor's official summer residence, according to the affidavit.

FBI Special Agent Richard Trask said in an affidavit accompanying a criminal complaint that one of the six arrested men had bought a stun gun for the mission last week and that the men had been planning to buy explosives on Wednesday.

The seven arrested men are linked to a militia group known as the Wolverine Watchmen, according to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. They are accused of attempting to find the home addresses of law enforcement officers to target them, making threats of violence intended to "instigate a civil war" and engaging in planning and training to attack the Michigan capitol building and kidnap government officials, including Whitmer.

The group of six met repeatedly over the summer for firearms training and combat drills and practiced building explosives, the FBI said in the filing.

The plan to kidnap Whitmer was hatched in the basement of a Grand Rapids, Michigan, business in June, according to the FBI.

Members of the group of six staked out Whitmer's vacation home in August and September and looked under a highway bridge for places they could place and detonate a bomb to distract the authorities, the FBI said.

They indicated that they wanted to take Whitmer hostage before the election in November, and one man said they should take her to a "secure location" in Wisconsin for a "trial", Trask said.

In the affidavit accompanying the federal complaint, an FBI agent quoted one of the six men as saying Whitmer "has uncontrolled power right now. All good things must come to an end."

The agent said that talk of targeting the governor surfaced as early as June among the six members of an unnamed militia who met in Ohio. They were angry about Whitmer's mandates that shut down businesses issued in response to COVID-19.