Foiled Militia Plot Included Week-Long Series of Televised Executions

New details have been revealed about the plan that 14 Michigan militia members had to kidnap the state’s governor Gretchen Whitmer. It appears that the plot went far deeper than just kidnapping, and included a week-long series of live and televised executions of elected officials, according to a new report from ABC News Chicago.

On the surface, the plot was said to be a response to pandemic restrictions imposed by the governor, but the new revelations show that they intended to take over the government and wage a violent war against anyone who disagreed with their political beliefs.

New court filings claim there was a “Plan B” that the group had plotted, in which they would organize hundreds of other militia members to a takeover of the Michigan capitol building, where they would later stage the televised executions. This was reportedly one of the backup plans that the group had if something went awry with their kidnapping while it was in progress.

There was also a “Plan C” which was discussed for the possible event that the takeover and the kidnapping both failed. Plan C included burning down the statehouse with government employees inside and leaving no survivors.

Despite the severity of the charges many of the defendants have had bond reductions and are now free until their trial.

On October 8th, 2020, the FBI announced the arrests of 13 suspects accused of plotting to kidnap Governor Whitmer to spark a violent overthrow of the state government. The suspects were each tied to a group that called themselves the Wolverine Watchmen.

The group was co-founded by Pete Musico and Joseph Morrison. Morrison is considered the group’s “commander.” Six of the suspects were charged in federal court, while the other seven were charged with state crimes. A week later, a fourteenth suspect was arrested and charged in state court.

The suspects named in the federal indictment were Adam Fox, Ty Garbin, Barry Croft, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, and Brandon Caserta. Five of the men were Michigan residents, while the sixth, Croft, was from Delaware. Adam Fox and Barry Croft were accused of being the organizers of the plot.

During a court hearing on October 13th, an FBI agent testified that the conspirators had considered leaving Whitmer in a boat in the middle of Lake Michigan and disabling its motor. He also testified that the group had discussed, during the early stages of the planning, kidnapping Virginia Governor Ralph Northam.

Then, on October 26th, federal prosecutors announced that they were also considering additional federal terrorism charges after the FBI had found “explosive device components” and ghost guns among the property of the suspects. Prosecutors will announce their decision on the additional charges after the materials are analyzed by experts.

Two days later, on October 28th, an unsealed search warrant revealed that some of the suspects had discussed South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster as another possible target. The warrant also revealed that one of the suspects had posted a hit-list of politicians that he said he wanted to hang on his Facebook page back in late June. 

The list included the names of McMaster, President Trump, former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, former U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, other elected officials, liberals, Muslims, and “all anti-Americans.”