Michigan Governor Whitmer alleged kidnapping plot had Election Day deadline: Feds
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Newly filed court documents make clear that authorities believe the alleged kidnapping plot targeting Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was planned to take place before the November election. Investigators say the plot was hatched by these fourteen men would have resulted in Governor Whitmer's abduction before Election Day, allegedly after two surveillance missions on her vacation home.
RELATED: 13 charged in plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer: FBI
In a newly filed government motion, prosecutors ask for more time to indict the defendants, saying they have collected an enormous amount of evidence: "hundreds of hours of audio recordings from confidential human sources and undercover agents."
Just as the accused domestic terrorists were apparently being driven by the calendar, so too were prosecutors in arresting them. "In particular" they say, "lead defendant Adam Fox stated on multiple occasions that the group's deadline for executing the plot was the November 3rd, 2020, national election." Their motive federal officers have said was to take out the governor, kill law enforcement, trigger a civil war and overthrow the government. Prosecutors released training video introduced as evidence in the federal case to illustrate what the group was planning.
Questions remain after alleged Michigan governor kidnapping plot thwarted
But, an attorney for one defendant tells CNN that it's not how it looks.
"I speak for Ty Garbin and only Ty Garbin but, my client is not a crackpot. My client in not a knucklehead. He is a good kid. He had a good job as an airline mechanic at the airport," said Mark Satawa, attorney for one of the defendants, Ty Garbin.
"When the evidence comes out in the courtroom you're going to see a much different Ty Garbin than the picture that was painted in court last week," Satawa told CNN.
Satawa won a very similar case in 2010 involving the so-called Hutaree Christian militia group from northwest Indiana and Michigan. Prosecutors said they also trained for an anti-government, cop-killing plot but ultimately they were all acquitted. Tonight, Satawa is looking for a similar outcome.
"The government lost and they lost big time. They were just flat out wrong," Satawa said of the Hutaree case.
