Trump considers pardon for Whitmer kidnap plotters, calling case a ‘railroad job’

• President Donald Trump says he will ‘take a look’ at pardoning men convicted of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
• Trump’s lawyer that reviews pardons said ‘we can’t leave these guys behind’
• A federal appeals court with two Trump-appointed judges recently upheld sentences for men convicted at trial

President Donald Trump says he’s going to “take a look” at pardoning militia members who were convicted and are serving federal prison sentences for a plot to kidnap and possibly assassinate Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

“It looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job,” Trump said of the case during a Wednesday press conference in the White House, noting “a lot of people have been asking me that question.”

Fourteen men were arrested in October 2020 by the FBI in connection with a plot to kidnap and possibly kill Whitmer due to restrictions she put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of the six men charged by the federal government, two were convicted at trial, two took plea deals to cooperate with the federal government and two were acquitted. Seven other men were convicted or pleaded guilty at the state level.

Speaking Wednesday, Trump appeared to explain away some of the extensively documented kidnap plotting as idle talk, arguing “some people said some stupid things,” asserting “they were drinking and I think they said stupid things.”

The members of the plot, however, recorded themselves allegedly training with assault-style rifles for abducting the governor.

A Whitmer spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Related:

• Two ringleaders convicted in Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot
• Jury acquits three men accused in Whitmer kidnapping plot
• Plotters or dupes? Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping case goes to jury.

The Associated Press reported last week that the US Justice Department’s new pardon attorney Ed Martin Jr. said he would review the federal convictions. “We can’t leave these guys behind,” he said, comparing them to Trump-pardoned participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Martin called the kidnapping case “weaponization of government” and a “fed-napping,” a reference to the use of federal informants and undercover agents that led to arrests. Critics of the prosecution have argued those working for federal law enforcement promoted the plot’s progression and entrapped the participants by supplying them with equipment, such as explosives.

Whitmer has maintained that beyond kidnapping, where the plotters discussed abandoning her on a boat in the middle of Lake Michigan, their aim was really assassination. The plot members also tested a makeshift bomb on human targets, among other preparations.

Shortly after their arrests in 2020, Whitmer laid blame for the plot at Trump’s feet, saying they heard his calls to “liberate Michigan” and criticism of Whitmer “as a rallying cry.”

“When they stoke and contribute to hate speech, they are complicit,” she said at the time. 

Whitmer and Trump have since reset relations as the governor lobbied the president to bring a new fighter mission to Selfridge Air National Guard Base and to back a project to try and stop invasive Carp from reaching the Great Lakes. Trump has agreed and, in the process, called Whitmer a “very good person” who has done an “excellent job.”

A three-judge US Appeals Court panel in April unanimously upheld trial convictions for Adam Fox and Barry Croft, who prosecutors say played key roles in the kidnapping plot. The judges dismissed Fox's claims that the plot was nothing more than "fanciful" and "fantastic" talk.

“The record before us is replete with evidence that Fox and Croft agreed to kidnap Governor Whitmer from her lakeside home provided the right opportunity presented itself,” the judges said in their written opinion.

Notably, that appeals court panel included two judges appointed by Trump: Former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joan Larsen and Chad Readler, who as an acting assistant US attorney general previously defended the Trump administration's decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

The prosecution relied heavily on the use of informants and undercover federal agents who joined the group. Fox traveled to and surveilled Whitmer's vacation home on two occasions, participated in a "shoot house" training and ordered explosives from an undercover federal agent, the judges noted.

"Between defendants’ extremist group affiliations, threatening social media posts, and numerous self-incriminating private communications, it is evident that defendants were ready and willing to commit these crimes long before being introduced to any government informants," they concluded.