The New York Times
By Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Shaila Dewan and Kathleen Gray
Six men were arrested and accused of plotting with a militia group to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, the authorities announced on Thursday.
The men, who the F.B.I. said espoused anti-government views, had talked about taking Ms. Whitmer, a Democrat, hostage since at least the summer, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court and unsealed on Thursday.
They had surveilled Ms. Whitmer’s vacation home in August and September, and they indicated that they wanted to take her hostage before the presidential election in November, Richard J. Trask II, an F.B.I. special agent, said in the criminal complaint. He said the F.B.I. believed the men were planning to buy explosives this week for their attempt.
Several of the men had talked about creating a society in which they could be “self-sufficient” and one said he wanted 200 men to storm the Statehouse in Lansing, Mich, the complaint said.
Six men were arrested and accused of plotting with a militia group to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, the authorities announced on Thursday.
The men, who the F.B.I. said espoused anti-government views, had talked about taking Ms. Whitmer, a Democrat, hostage since at least the summer, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court and unsealed on Thursday.
They had surveilled Ms. Whitmer’s vacation home in August and September, and they indicated that they wanted to take her hostage before the presidential election in November, Richard J. Trask II, an F.B.I. special agent, said in the criminal complaint. He said the F.B.I. believed the men were planning to buy explosives this week for their attempt.
Several of the men had talked about creating a society in which they could be “self-sufficient” and one said he wanted 200 men to storm the Statehouse in Lansing, Mich, the complaint said.
The New York Daily News
The FBI thwarted a sinister plot to overthrow Michigan’s state government and kidnap several political figures, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the agency said in a series of warrants unsealed Thursday.
At least six men have been charged in the investigation, which began in the early days of the pandemic as a group opposed to the Democratic leader’s strict lockdown measures began planning to storm the state Capitol with Molotov cocktails and take her as a hostage, according to the documents.
Criminal Complaint
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/08/politics/whitmer-kidnapping-criminal-complaint/index.html