Terrorist group thwarted in Whitmer kidnapping plot

On Oct. 8, the news broke that 13 men were charged with a plan to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The group had trained for months over the summer with firearm practice along with combat skills training to aid in their attempt to overthrow Whitmer because of disagreement with many of her policies.

Starting in mid-September, Adam Fox was recorded asking the group if they wanted to join a militia group to overthrow the state government.

Six of the men were charged federally with conspiring to kidnap Governor Whitmer, while the other seven were charged at the state level with violation of the antiterrorism laws in Michigan. In a group message, it was suggested that the group should just show up at her house to take her captive.

“Have one person go to her house, knock on the door and when she answers it just cap her,” the message said (CNN).

Whitmer said that though she knew the job of governor contained difficulties, she never imagined this.

“I knew this job would be hard, but I’ll be honest, I never could have imagined anything like this,” Whitmer said (New York Times).

The group was caught when they were encouraged to recruit more members to their plot.

An FBI official wrote in the statement that it was the group’s plan to take out an official they did not feel was doing anything for their state and decided to recruit more people to help.

“Several members talked about murdering ‘tyrants’ or ‘taking’ a sitting governor,” said the agent, “The group decided they needed to increase their numbers and encouraged each other to talk to their neighbors and spread their message,” (The Detroit News).