Michigan governor kidnap plot dreamt up by FBI informants, accused leader claims

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A new court filing obtained by the ABC7 I-Team lays out new information from the accused leader of a plot to kidnap and kill Michigan's governor.

Federal law enforcement officials say Adam Fox was the top henchman of a militia plot targeting Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and others.

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According to court documents, Fox is preparing an entrapment defense, alleging that the kidnap scheme was concocted by a man known as "Big Dan" and other FBI undercovers whom Fox claims were informants run wild.

Commando drills, secret Midwest militia meetings and plans to kidnap the governors of Michigan, Ohio and Virginia - possibly through public executions - were manufactured plots by government informants according to Adam Fox, the accused leader of the alleged violent uprising.

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In the latest court filing, Fox alleged at least three FBI informants "invited and encouraged him to participate in the events that they now claim are overt acts in support of the crimes."

Fox and his attorneys claimed it was done in a manner that "can only be described as predatorial."

Fox is asking for text and telephone data relating to the informants, especially someone nicknamed "Big Dan," who he claims was his primary contact.

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Fox maintains the plot to attack Whitmer's summer home or her family's boat, the hand-written notes and the plan to blow up a bridge near the governor's home were all based on contact initiated by the federal informants.

Fox claimed those informants made up stories, and illegally encouraged criminal conduct, although he said he never did anything criminal.

In the court filing, Fox claimed an informant whom he thought was just a right wing sympathizer encouraged him with marijuana and to "take another hit."

Other defendants in the case say there were 12 FBI informants working on them a year ago; they've all asked for cell phone and data records as well.

Prosecutors have not yet replied to the filing that includes a volatile new allegation: that this was not just a plan to attack a single governor. Fox said FBI informant "Big Dan" pushed for a synchronized militia attack on "governors in multiple states... shooting rounds into the homes of their respective governors at the same time." Fox also claimed the suggested plot was to mail spent shell casings to each politician.