If you thought you’d heard the last of the trials of suspects charged with an alleged attempt to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer back in 2020, think again. The state now has three additional people, Eric Molitor and brothers Willam and Michael Null who have been charged with providing material support for terrorist acts and illegal possession of firearms. All have entered not-guilty pleas. Given the spotty performance that prosecutors have delivered thus far in these cases and the dubious nature of the FBI’s involvement, it will be interesting to see how this attempt goes. But it won’t simply be “interesting” for these three men because they could be facing up to twenty years in prison if they are convicted. (AP)
Prosecutors were preparing Wednesday to present evidence against three men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in what investigators described as an extremist scheme to ignite a civil war.
Attorneys were scheduled to make opening arguments in the trial of Eric Molitor and brothers William Null and Michael Null, who were among 14 defendants charged weeks before the November 2020 election. Nine have been convicted in state or federal court, including four who pleaded guilty, while two were acquitted.
Investigators described them as members of paramilitary groups angered by Whitmer’s COVID-19 policies, which shut down schools and restricted the economy.
The prosecution may have their work cut out for them, given the location of the trial. It’s taking place in Antrim County, a place that Donald Trump carried by a 61 to 37 margin in 2020. Plucking 12 Whitmer/Biden voters out of that pool was probably a daunting task.
No matter the makeup of the jury pool, the prosecution will still face the task of answering the lingering questions that remain about the so-called “plot” to kidnap Whitmer. (We discussed those at length here one year ago yesterday.) Even though the feds somehow convinced two members of the group to plead guilty earlier this year in exchange for cooperation, those questions have previously led to two suspects being acquitted and two others very nearly doing the same after the jury was hung.
As you may recall, the supposed group of conspirators wound up including multiple FBI agents and paid Bureau informants. They were the ones who recruited the accused individuals online initially. One of the informants even supplied the “bomb” that was supposedly going to be used to blow up a bridge near Whitmer’s vacation home.
The person who reportedly was the main recruiter for the plot was only known as “Big Dan.” But Dan was an FBI informant also. And you will notice that nobody named Big Dan seems to be going to jail or facing any charges.
With every passing year, we keep hearing more and more stories of the sorts of things that the FBI has been up to. They selectively determine who they will or will not investigate and how vigorously they will pursue them. And clearly, they have paid informants all over the place. (At one point it seemed like there were more FBI agents in the Proud Boys than there were Proud Boys.)
Do you remember the “Newburgh Four” in New York some years back who were in a plot to blow up some synagogues? Well, the FBI cracked that case and they all went to prison. But just this year we learned that the FBI had concocted that plot out of whole cloth also. They lured the men into agreeing to participate and then busted them when they showed up. The judge in the recent hearing said the “real villain” in the case was the paid FBI informant who set everything up. The men received early compassionate release after that angle was exposed.
If the FBI can lure some persuadable (and perhaps not terribly bright) people into a conspiracy they concocted themself, they can certainly make sure they get charged in the aftermath. And if they can’t find a crime, they can create one out of whole cloth. Do I sound overly cynical at this point? Why wouldn’t I be? Does this all sound like a conspiracy theory? Sure. But as the increasingly popular saying goes, all my other conspiracy theories already turned out to be true so I might as well find some new ones.
