GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WWJ/AP) – As the trial of four men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer resumed on Thursday following a three-day suspension due to a positive COVID-19 case, jurors learned one of the men wanted to tie the governor to a table.
Adam Fox said he wanted to restrain the “tyrant” on the table and pose for a photo as if they had “just made the biggest drug bust,” according to a secret recording.of Fox played in court on Thursday.
The recording was captured by FBI agent Mark Schweers, who had posed as someone with similar viewpoints as Fox and three other suspects.
Fox and three others – Barry Croft, Jr., Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta – have been charged with conspiracy to kidnap the governor. Prosecutors say the men became angry with the government and Whitmer’s COVID-19 restrictions.
Prosecutors allege the plot called for kidnapping Whitmer at her vacation home in Northern Michigan and then blowing up a bridge to give the suspects a buffer between themselves and police.
Agent Christopher Long also testified that investigators first learned about Croft – a trucker from Delaware – through a social media post saying he wanted to force police officers out of their homes with fire and then have a “people’s trial and hang them from the nearest tree,” the Associated Press reported.
Defense attorneys say the FBI only targeted the four men because of their anti-government views.
Long, however, said “when you have an individual who has a violent-threat style of communications with individuals and you add in he had access to weapons... those do not fall under First Amendment protected speech.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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