In October 2020, the Department of Justice announced that it had charged six men involved in an alleged plot to kidnap Democrat Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Five of the defendants have pleaded not guilty and have been held without bail since their arrests. According to a federal court filing made by one of the defendants on Monday – 9 months later – it was revealed that the FBI had employed at least 12 undercover informants to infiltrate militia groups involved in the alleged kidnapping conspiracy, fueling concerns among observers that the “plot” may have been the result of entrapment by the FBI.
According to a federal court filing made by one of the five defendants involved in the federal case, the government employed at least a dozen confidential informants to infiltrate militia groups involved in the alleged plot to kidnap Democrat Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a case that drew national attention when it made headlines in October of last year. Since then, 8 more individuals have been charged with Michigan state anti-terrorism statutes for allegedly providing support to the alleged schemers.
However, the Monday court filings appear to highlight new defense strategies for the defendants, as their lawyers say that the FBI “induced or persuaded” them to go along with the alleged plan to kidnap the Governor, which originally started out as a plan to “storm the Capitol building” in Lansing, Michigan according to the DOJ. Media reported at the time that the men were furious with Whitmer for her severe and unscientific COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions.
“Although prosecutors have acknowledged using informants to build the case, the court file to date has provided very little detail on their activities or identities save for one informant, who testified in March. According to an attorney for Franks, the government has shared ID numbers linked to 12 confidential informants but, with one exception, has not provided background on how they were recruited, what payments they may have received from the FBI, where they are based, or what their names are,” reported Buzzfeed.
Half of the defendants from both cases combined were members of the Wolverine Watchmen, a group associated with the Three Percenters – one of the same militia groups blamed for storming of the Capitol building in Washington DC on January 6, as was pointed out by Revolver News: “And, as the cherry on top, what if we told you that the director of the Detroit FBI Field Office, who oversaw the infiltration operation of the Michigan Plot, was subsequently granted a highly coincidental promotion to the D.C. office, where he is now the lead FBI agent for all 1/6 cases?”
National File has been extensively investigating the covert involvement of the federal government in cases like Michigan and January 6, as many experts have noted their similarities and have pointed out that the agencies involved may be responsible and liable for the damages that occurred.
As seen in previous reports and videos regarding January 6, it appears that the certain paramilitary-looking black-clad individuals who were recorded appearing to initiate, orchestrate, oversee, and ultimately participate in the violence that day have not been identified by the FBI or DOJ despite the now 6-month long federal law enforcement dragnet operation to apprehend anyone involved with the supposed-insurrection.
This has raised concerns that many of said individuals could have been working for or with federal law enforcement while undercover, running contrary to previous suggestions that the events that took place that day were a result of the federal government’s “lack of preparation.” (READ MORE: VIDEO: Suspicious Black-Clad ‘Operatives’ Were First Ones Up Capitol Building Stairs On 1/6)
The presence of undercover federal law enforcement on January 6 was revealed by the FBI, perhaps accidentally, in the indictment of a defendant named Fi Doung, in which they admitted that at least one undercover federal employee was embedded within the pro-Trump crowd ahead of and during the civil unrest at the Capitol, as National File reported. This is the first admission from the government that an undercover federal operative was covertly interacting with patriot groups ahead of the violence at the Capitol on January 6.
