The FBI has been accused of encouraging and assisting a Michigan militia with their alleged plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, with court documents showing the remarkable depth of involvement of multiple informants.
Fourteen people have been charged so far after an October 2020 sting operation on the 'Wolverine Watchmen' militia.
Many of those were arrested at a warehouse in Michigan where they had met to hand over cash for the purchase of explosives, which they allegedly planned to use in the kidnapping plot.
In December one key player in the case, Ty Garbin, entered a guilty plea to kidnap conspiracy charges and faces up to life in prison. A trial date for the rest has been set for October 12.
But their lawyers are arguing that the FBI informants - at least 12 of them, according to a BuzzFeed investigation - went way beyond simply listening and infiltrating, and instead actively recruited others to the plot, funded and directed it. They have claimed that without the FBI informants' involvement, there would have been no plot at all.
And lawyers for the Capitol rioters will be watching very closely, amid claims by Tucker Carlson and others that the FBI spurred on the January 6 insurrection in a similar vein.
Paul Bellar is seen with a stars and stripes face mask inside the Michigan state capitol in Lansing on April 30. Bellar is one of three founders of the Wolverine Watchmen
Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, is seen on July 12. In October 14 people were arrested and accused of a plot to kidnap her, after she enraged the anti-authority 'Patriot' militia with her lockdown rules during the height of the pandemic
HOW THE WATCHMEN EMERGED
Michigan has long been a hotbed of self-described militia activity.
In May, Dana Nessel, Michigan's attorney general, said that her state was 'the original home of the militia movement,' and the Southern Poverty Law Center currently identifies 22 'extreme antigovernment groups' active in the state.
Timothy McVeigh trained with a group called the Michigan Militia Corps prior to carrying out the Oklahoma City bombing.
The Wolverine Watchmen was founded in November 2019 by Joe Morrison, 25, four days after he had appeared in court on a minor gun possession charge.
Initially the group focused on discussing police abuse and fantasizing about fighting back, nurturing what an FBI agent in the case later described as 'a grievance and hatred towards law enforcement,' BuzzFeed reported.
They were angered by the police killing of black people such as Breonna Taylor and Eric Garner, and white people like LaVoy Finicum, a rancher killed by law enforcement during a standoff in Oregon in 2016.
They described the FBI as domestic terrorists and the Michigan state police the 'Gestapo,' while calling for attacks on the ATF and other federal law enforcement agencies.
The group's three founding members were Morrison; his father-in-law Pete Musico, 42, who lived with him; and Paul Bellar, 21, who dreamed of being a paramedic.
The group's founding members included Joe Morrison (left); his father-in-law Pete Musico (right) who lived with him; and Paul Bellar, 21, who dreamed of being a paramedic
HOW THE FBI LEARNT OF THE WATCHMEN
A 33-year-old Iraq war veteran, named by BuzzFeed only as Dan, was attracted by their rhetoric as 'Patriots', and interested in their military drills.
He found the group on Facebook, while searching for fellow Second Amendment devotees.
But when Musico talked of hunting police down and killing them, Dan showed the exchange to a friend.
Soon the FBI were knocking at his door, and Dan became an informant - initially, without being paid.
His work was supervised by Special Agent Jayson Chambers and his partner, Henrik Impola - both members of the bureau's counterterrorism unit.
A federal grand jury brought additional charges in April against Barry Croft Jr (left ), 45, and Daniel Harris (right), 23, accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer
Ty Garbin (left), broke ranks with his co-defendants in January and pleaded guilty to a federal kidnapping conspiracy charge. Brandon Caserta (right) is also a defendant in the case
INFORMANT CODENAMED 'THOR' INFILTRATES THE GROUP
On March 17, 2020, Dan officially went on the FBI's books under the code name Thor.
Impola told Dan that he could deceive the Wolverine Watchmen or other suspects, BuzzFeed reported, but he had to be truthful with the FBI.
He could participate in the group's activities, but had to stop short of anything illegal.
For the next seven months, Dan would constantly update the FBI as to the group's activities.
He first wore a wire on April 30, 2020 - when the group attended an anti COVID lockdown protest at the Michigan state Capitol, in Lansing.
The men wore ballistic body armor and held pistols and AR-15 assault rifles.
He heard chatter about storming the building, and, panicked, surreptitiously informed the FBI who were listening.
To his astonishment, the Capitol guards then stood aside to let the group inside the building, where they were photographed, fully armed, outside the offices.
Hundreds of people descended on Michigan's Capitol building on April 30 to protest against Whitmer extending a statewide stay-at-home order. Pictured are Joe Morrison (far right), Paul Bellar (second right) and Pete Musico (red checked shirt)
A protester carries his rifle at the State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan from April's protest
Protesters tried to enter the Michigan House of Representative chamber and were kept out by the Michigan State Police on April 30 (file image)
At the protest they met a 37-year-old man living beneath a vacuum repair shop in Grand Rapids, named Adam Fox.
Fox, unemployed, spending his time bodybuilding and smoking weed, according to BuzzFeed, was angry at a government that he believed had failed him.
The lockdowns imposed by Whitmer, a Democrat, enraged the group and spurred them on.
In early June, Morrison decided that Fox should join the Watchmen.
Dan, who had been promoted to second in command of the group, spoke to Fox on the phone - inside an FBI office - and asked Fox for his specific aims.
Adam Fox spent his time bodybuilding and smoking weed, and according to BuzzFeed, was angry at a government that he believed had failed him.
He said his dream was to 'have the governor hogtied down on a table' for public display.
'We take the building and then take f****** hostages,' Fox told Dan. 'It's f****** wartime.'
He told Dan: 'I can't do nothing with less than 200 men.' He thought he could get 'maybe 15 to 20' men to join him.
Dan invited him to Morrison's home for training.
On June 18, the Watchmen met Fox as a group for the first time at another rally outside the Capitol in Lansing.
Fox patted everyone down to check for recording devices, without finding Dan's, and BuzzFeed reported that he seemed prepared to storm the building that very day.
According to court documents and testimony, Fox told the group Plan A was to storm the building and execute all the politicians on live television. Plan B was to lock the doors and burn the building to the ground, with everyone in it.
On June 20 the group met at Fox's apartment beneath the vacuum cleaner shop - a basement home that had to be accessed via a trapdoor, and in which Fox made all the group leave their phones in a centralized place to prevent anyone recording. He failed again to notice Dan's wire.
One of the founding Watchman, Bellar, became convinced that Fox was out of his mind, BuzzFeed reported, and repeatedly shared those concerns with Dan, court testimony shows.
Morrison, the group's commanding officer, also expressed reservations about Fox.
But Dan was sure to include Fox in group meetings and to develop his own personal relationship with him.
Fox began referring to Dan as his 'brother,' according to Fox's former fiancé.
TRAINING BEGINS FOR THE KIDNAPPING
Dan drove five Watchmen and 6,000 rounds of ammunition to Cambria, Wisconsin, for a national training exercise organized by Stephen Robeson (pictured)
On June 28, the group met at Morrison's property in Munith for training, and to discuss plans.
Fox had until that point been focused on attacking the Capitol in Lansing. They began to shift their attention to kidnapping the governor, Whitmer.
'Who's down for kidnapping tyrants?' Fox allegedly asked the others.
A few weeks later, Dan drove five Watchmen and 6,000 rounds of ammunition to Cambria, Wisconsin, for a national training exercise organized by Stephen Robeson - another person working for the FBI, who had organized in June 2020 a 'national militia meeting' in Dublin, Ohio.
Dan rented a Suburban for the weekend, paid for gas, and subsidized food and lodging for the group - all with money from the FBI.
Militia men from five states traveled to the event, and even tried - and failed - to detonate bombs they had made from balloons, black powder, and ball bearings.
Dan spoke to two of those there about how they could 'manufacture' weapons - all the time, with the FBI listening in.
By the end of July, Bellar told his fellow Watchmen he was buried in debt and leaving Michigan to move in with his father in South Carolina.
A confederate flag hangs on the property in Munith, Michigan, where the group trained
The militia training ground in rural Michigan where at least some of the men charged with plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer practiced shooting and blew up homemade explosives
The site is mostly baron aside from a small trailer. It's unclear if anyone lives in it or if was just used by Garbin for the training camp
Among shooting targets were metal signs that were riddled with bullet holes
Governor Gretchen Whitmer knew about the plot to kidnap her and had to be moved around with her family
Morrison told the group that he too was temporarily stepping away from the Watchmen, owing to marital issues.
Dan was then left in charge.
The FBI then asked Dan to bring in as many people as possible to the kidnap plot.
On August 28 Dan's handler, Impola, texted Dan to say he had 'a few goals for today' including getting the informant to invite three Watchmen — Daniel Harris, Garbin, and Brandon Caserta — to accompany him on a surveillance of Whitmer's home.
'I default to getting as many other guys as possible, so whatever works to maximize attendance,' the FBI agent wrote.
Dan brought in two more FBI informants - 'Red,' a supposed explosives expert, and a man known as Mark.
The group surveilled Whitmer's home again, with Red talking to the group about the explosives they'd need to pull off the kidnapping.
On October 7, Dan drove a group of four of the Watchmen to a meeting with the others at a warehouse in Ypsilanti, where they planned to hand over cash so Red could buy the explosives.
On arrival, as planned, they were all arrested.
The group would only learn later of Dan's role.
DAN MOVES HOME AS THE WATCHMEN FACE CHARGES
Dan has not been charged with any offense, and in December moved house, Buzzfeed reports.
Although the deal to become an informant was not initially about money, his handlers eventually gave him envelopes of cash, covered his mortgage and car payment, and also bought him a phone, computer, and new vehicle.
The FBI in total paid him $54,793. He has testified extensively against the others.
All have pleaded not guilty, except Garbin.
One defendant has formally accused the government of entrapment, arguing that the FBI assembled the key plotters, encouraged the group's anti-government feelings, and even gave its members military-style training.
Additional defendants are intending to make similar claims, BuzzFeed reported.
One attorney is requesting all texts sent and received by Dan, and other attorneys are now considering motions that accuse the government of intentionally withholding evidence of entrapment.
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