DETROIT _ The accused ringleader in the plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer wanted to "take her out on a boat and leave her in the middle of Lake Michigan," an FBI agent testified Tuesday.
FBI Special Agent Richard Trask agent told a federal judge in detail how more than a dozen self-identified militia members plotted to kidnap the Michigan governor as part of a violent revolt against the government that included "firebombing" police cars in a parking lot.
Trask identified 37-year-old Adam Fox as the ringleader of the group, and said that Fox ordered two surveillance operations of Whitmer's vacation home. During one surveillance operation, Fox suggested taking Whitmer out on a boat, disabling the motor, and leaving her in the lake, he testified, adding that it didn't appear that the mission would end there.
As Trask testified earlier in an affidavit, the goal was to take to Whitmer to another state and try her for "treason."
The plan was foiled as the FBI had tracked the militia members' activities with the help of undercover informants and federal agents who had embedded themselves in the group.
Trask delivered his testimony in a packed courtroom in Grand Rapids, where five defendants arrived in handcuffs and belly chains for their detention hearings, during which a judge will decide whether to grant them bond or keep them jailed.
Trask is on the stand right now, outlining the government's case against the suspect and offering new details, including an allegation that the group also plotted to "take out" Virginia's governor due to his lockdown order.
According to Trask, the Michigan suspects are part of a larger group of militia members from at least five states who met online and recruited members through social media to help them carry out attacks against government officials. Specifically, he said, the members were upset with Whitmer and Virginia's governor, who is also a Democrat, and had issues with their lockdown orders.
Among the groups involved in this alleged plot was the little-known Michigan militia known as the Wolverine Watchmen, Trask said, noting some of the group's members showed up at Second Amendment rally at the state Capitol earlier this year. There, they met other militia members who came from other regions to grow the group, he said, adding the FBI had been watching the Wolverine Watchmen before the June 18 Second Amendment rally in Lansing.
Trask testified that a former Wolverine Watchmen member helped the FBI thwart the kidnap plot after blowing the whistle to local police on "potential violence" that the group was discussing.
"There was discussion about removing the governor and potentially swarming the Capitol. They also talked about attacking law enforcement officers," Trask testified.
Bond decisions are expected Tuesday for: Kaleb Franks, 26, of Waterford; Daniel Harris, 23, of Lake Orion; and Brandon Caserta, 32, of Canton Township.
Detention hearings for Fox and Ty Garbin, 24, of Hartland Township, were moved to Friday at the suspects' requests.
A sixth suspect, Barry Croft, 44, of Bear, Delaware, has a bond hearing scheduled in Delaware later Tuesday and is expected to be extradited to Michigan soon.
