BuzzFeed is garnering some buzz Tuesday with an extensive report on the FBI’s involvement in the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Ken Bensinger and Jessica Garrison report that the FBI “played a far larger role than has previously been reported” in the kidnapping plot.
NEW: When 14 men were charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan's governor and kick off a civil war last fall, it was hailed as a triumph in the FBI’s battle against domestic terrorism.
But the men say they weren’t plotting. They say they were set up. https://t.co/eWUbospoXj
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) July 20, 2021
Our investigation, based on court filings, audio recordings, and dozens of interviews, provides the most detailed account yet into the alleged scheme to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — and the first look at how deeply FBI informants penetrated different armed extremist groups.
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) July 20, 2021
As the cases (there are charges in state & federal court) move toward trial, competing narratives are emerging. The DoJ’s is about domestic terrorists concocting a violent conspiracy. The defendants, meanwhile, call it a fantasy created by the feds. They say they were entrapped.
— Ken Bensinger (@kenbensinger) July 20, 2021
The FBI used at least 12 informants to make the case, including one who was so deeply embedded in one militant group that he was elected its 2nd in command (and briefly ran it). Another was a multi-time felon who’d been working as a govt informant since at least the mid-1980s
— Ken Bensinger (@kenbensinger) July 20, 2021
An examination of the case by BuzzFeed News also reveals that some of those informants, acting under the direction of the FBI, played a far larger role than has previously been reported. Working in secret, they did more than just passively observe and report on the actions of the suspects. Instead, they had a hand in nearly every aspect of the alleged plot, starting with its inception. The extent of their involvement raises questions as to whether there would have even been a conspiracy without them.
A longtime government informant from Wisconsin, for example, helped organize a series of meetings around the country where many of the alleged plotters first met one another and the earliest notions of a plan took root, some of those people say. The Wisconsin informant even paid for some hotel rooms and food as an incentive to get people to come.
The Iraq War vet, for his part, became so deeply enmeshed in a Michigan militant group that he rose to become its second-in-command, encouraging members to collaborate with other potential suspects and paying for their transportation to meetings. He prodded the alleged mastermind of the kidnapping plot to advance his plan, then baited the trap that led to the arrest.
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“Although [the defendants] have not denied participating in training events, attending meetings, and communicating with other defendants, they claim that no actual conspiracy to kidnap the governor ever existed,” they add.
This suggests that the federal government, through the FBI, worked to radicalize people and further the alleged plot to kidnap Governor Whitmer. If the story is accurate, that’s absolutely disgusting and unlawful. https://t.co/jSFPkPCyYo
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) July 21, 2021
JUST IN: FBI informants were behind the "kidnapping plot" to capture Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
ABOLISH THE FBI NOW!!
— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) July 20, 2021
The thwarted plot of kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer looks a lot like FBI entrapment to me https://t.co/a4Duv2gBqe
— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) July 20, 2021
The fingerprints of the FBI were all over this Michigan/Whitmer kidnapping plot, just like the FBI created and drove so many of the first War on Terror plots they then boasted of breaking up. In this case, one of the FBI agents in the plot was just arrested for domestic violence: https://t.co/6WpZtukwTl
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 20, 2021
More reporting proving that the FBI — just as was true throughout the War on Terror — was the key driver of the "plot" to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Makes even more imperative questions about how embedded FBI was in 1/6 plotting. https://t.co/ueuBQuKERP
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 20, 2021
Pretty much the definition of FBI co-management
“FBI informants were involved in nearly every aspect of the alleged plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor Whitmer, starting with its inception” (Buzzfeed) https://t.co/R5Q0KQ1I3Y
— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) July 20, 2021
As I said at the time, the Michigan kidnap plot was likely fake. The thing appears to have had as many informants as serious plotters. No suprise if you ever looked into the "war on terror" cases. https://t.co/GNZfmpwXn7 pic.twitter.com/iZRB3NnRSU
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) July 20, 2021
This report comes just days after the DOJ Inspector General found “serious errors, violations of FBI policy, and misconduct by FBI officials” in the Larry Nassar sex abuse investigation. It also comes on the heels of the FBI asking people to report their friends and family for “suspicious behavior,” such as owning a LEGO set of the U.S. Capitol.
This case has emerged as a critical test for how the Biden administration approaches the growing threat of anti-government extremists. More than that, it epitomizes the ideological divisions that have riven the country. Did the FBI stop the plot, or fabricate it?
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) July 20, 2021
Related:
OMG HIDE YOUR LEGOS! FBI asking Twitter to report their friends and family for ‘suspicious behavior’ BACKFIRES https://t.co/ymBDS1nNpF
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 11, 2021
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