(The Center Square) – A jury acquitted three men Friday on charges of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020.
Eric Molitor and brothers Michael and William Null faced charges of providing material support for terrorist acts, a 20-year felony, and firearm charges.
The three were the final of 14 men charged in state or federal court related to the 2020 plot fueled by Whitmer’s COVID-19 restrictions that shuttered much of the economy in 2020. The men were accused of participating in military training drills and surveilling Whitmer’s vacation travel home before the federal and state government busted the plot in October 2020.
Alleged ringleaders Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. were convicted last year of conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, and Croft faced another explosives charge.
Defense attorneys in related cases said the non-ringleaders were wary of kidnapping and claimed FBI informants directed the mission to the point of leading military training.
According to 258 out-of-court statements, on Sept. 5, 2020 – one month and three days before the sting arrest – FBI Agent Jason Chambers allegedly texted an informant: “Mission is to kill the governor specifically.”
Prosecutors pinned Fix, Croft,and William Null at an anti-government meeting in Ohio in the summer of 2020, during which they ranted against the government and public officials.
However, government missteps plagued the case.
Former lead FBI Agent Richard Trask was convicted on domestic violence charges and was later fired. The FBI convicted an informant-turned-double-agent who allegedly disobeyed FBI rules by illegally purchasing a firearm, offered to use a drone to commit domestic terrorism and warned one of the alleged plotters before an arrest.
Defense attorneys say the government funded the plot. The FBI paid more than $80,000 for confidential information. At least 12 FBI informants infiltrated the alleged kidnapping plot.
Attorney Nicholas Somberg, who represented defendant Joe Morrison, previously said in 2022 the FBI goaded Fox into believing he was a “leader of an army that didn’t exist,” comprised of “two FBI agents and Adam Fox.”
“The FBI provided all of the training, ammunition, money, guns, transportation and lodging,” Somberg said in a phone interview with The Center Square. “They drove these guys across the country in a nice Suburban and then put them up in a place to stay.”
Somberg questioned why the FBI needed 12 people to bust the plot.
“If you’re trying to bust a gang for selling drugs, or the mafia, you send in one person who’s just sitting back and recording – not leading, not becoming the Godfather and calling hits,” Somberg said. “You have to investigate, not instigate.”
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said the government’s work on this case “undoubtedly saved lives.”
“While today’s verdicts are not what we hoped for, the successes we have achieved throughout these cases, in both state and federal courts, sends a clear message that acts of domestic terrorism will not be tolerated in our state,” Nessel said in a statement.
The people who pleaded or were found guilty are Joseph Morrison, Paul Bellar, Pete Musico, Brian Higgins, Shawn Fix, Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr. and Kaleb Franks.
