Federal agents have thwarted an elaborate plot by several white male anarchist terrorists to kidnap and likely murder Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in an effort to spark violent action against liberal governors in several other states before the general election. According to the government’s criminal complaint, these right-wing terrorists spent their summer studying Governor Whitmer’s movements and security, surveilling the summer residence where they planned to commit their assauly, building and testing bombs, acquiring expensive night vision gear and an 800,000-volt taser, and conducting training exercises with firearms. Their much-deliberated plans included blowing up a bridge as a distraction and killing police officers.
To catch these terrorists, the FBI worked with hundreds of law enforcement officers and executed search warrants in at least nineteen Michigan communities.
On one surveillance mission in September, the terrorists were one impulse away from attacking Governor Whitmer’s home on the spot:
On September 12, 2020, while driving from GARBIN’s property to Cadillac to bring others to the property, FOX told CHS-2 and another individual that the vacation home is the Governor’s actual house, “And it’s a perfect f—in’ setup. Out of everywhere that she resides, this is the only one that’s probably actually feasible with a success rate.” That conversation was recorded by CHS-2.
During the late night of September 12 and early morning of September 13, the group drove from Luther to the vicinity of the vacation home in three separate vehicles. CHS-2 and the UCEs audio recorded the operation. Before leaving Luther, CROFT asked FOX if the surveillance participants were armed. FOX confirmed that they were, and CROFT suggested they take the opportunity to conduct an act of violence that night. CROFT was eventually dissuaded of this notion and decided to wait for a better time [FBI Special Agent Richard J. Trask II, Criminal Complaint, USA v. Fox, Croft, Garbin, Franks, Harris, and Caserta, filed 2020.10.06].
Governor Whitmer spoke out yesterday against these terrorists and the man who stoked their violent intentions and the conditions of chaos, Donald Trump:
We are not one another’s enemy. This virus is our enemy, and this enemy is relentless. It doesn’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat, young or old, rich or poor. It doesn’t care if we’re tired of it. It threatens us all. Our lives, our families, our jobs, our businesses, our economy. It preys on our elderly and medically vulnerable residents. And it has exposed deep inequities in our society. This should be a moment for national unity, where we all pull together as Americans to meet this challenge head on with the same might and muscle that put a man on the moon, seeing the humanity in one another and doing our part to help our country get through this. Instead, our head of state has spent the past seven months denying science, ignoring his own health experts, stoking distrust, fomenting anger, and giving comfort to those who spread fear and hatred and division.
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. “Stand back and stand by,” he told them. Stand back and stand by. Hate groups heard the president’s words, not as a rebuke, but as a rallying cry, as a call to action. When our leaders speak, their words matter. They carry weight. When our leaders meet with, encourage, or fraternize with domestic terrorists, they legitimize their actions and they are complicit. When they stoke and contribute to hate speech, they are complicit [link added; Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, statement on terrorist plot against her, transcribed by Rev.com, 2020.10.08].
Governor Whitmer invoked the far wiser words of a past Republican President who did a much better job of transitioning from celebrity to statesman:
In 1981, President Ronald Reagan spoke to the NAACP’s annual convention, and his comments stand in sharp contrast to what we have seen on the national and state level from his own beloved party in 2020. He said, “A few isolated groups in the backwater of American life still hold perverted notions of what America is all about.” Recently, in some places in the nation, there’s been a disturbing recurrence of bigotry and violence.
Then Reagan sent a direct message to those who still adhere to senseless racism and religious prejudice. “You are the ones who are out of step with our society,” he said. “You are the ones who willfully violate the meaning of the dream that is America. And this country, because of what it stands for, will not stand for your conduct.” So let me say this loud and clear. Hatred, bigotry, and violence have no place in the great state of Michigan. If you break the law or conspire to commit heinous acts of violence against anyone, we will find you, we will hold you accountable, and we will bring you to justice [Whitmer, 2020.10.08].
Predictably, Trump attacked Whitmer on Twitter, lied about her response to law enforcement’s successful icing of these thugs, called her condemnation of terrorism and call to unity “her little political act,” and bleated again about imagined left-wing violence and while apparently not making a single comment directly condemning the actual right-wing violence the arrested terrorists planned against the Michigan Governor.
Turn off Trump and listen to Governor Whitmer. We must all heed her call for unity against the homegrown terrorists who pose the greatest threat to American security and values. These terrorists began hatching their violent plot after a June 6 meeting in Dublin, Ohio, of fifteen people from multiple states who discussed kidnapping and murdering the leaders of other states who don’t support their opinions.
Michigan AG wants to charge Basrr with perjury because he swore under oath in July, he knew of no plots against the guv of Michigan when his own department was tracking these white militias with plans to kidnap Whitmer.
Nice. I hope the Michigan AG does.
Perjury and other laws that the wealthy disagree with are only for the common folk unless they happen to insult someone within in their circle.
Proof positive that a good fence is money well spent.
Some rich SOBs are hiring armed, retired military vigilantes to loiter around polling places on election day to frighten some voters, especially BIPOC, away from voting.
Of course their excuse is that they’re “protecting against voter fraud.” We know that is BS.