Former President Donald Trump downplayed the plot to kidnap Gov. Grethen Whitmer, but a federal jury Tuesday took it very seriously, convicting two men accused of orchestrating the disturbing plan. The Detroit News notes that "prosecutors salvaged the largest domestic terrorism case in a generation that has shed light on political extremism in Michigan."
The convictions came four months after jurors deadlocked on charges against Potterville resident Adam Fox and Delaware truck driver Barry Croft and acquitted two others who were accused of being part of a broader group of people angered by pandemic restrictions and hoping to spark a second Civil War. Fox and Croft face up to life in federal prison.
The verdicts give the U.S. Justice Department a landmark victory prosecuting extremism and domestic terrorism amid an increase in threats nationwide.
The outlet reports that two others, Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, pleaded guilty to federal kidnapping conspiracy charges and testified as the government's star witnesses.
It's worth noting that the former President repeatedly attacked Whitmer before and after the news of the kidnapping plot.
"Your governor, I don't think she likes me too much," Trump said in 2020, prompting a loud reaction from the crowd.
"Hey, hey, hey hey," he told the crowd of Trump supporters, "I'm the one, it was our people that helped her out with her problem."
"I mean, we'll have to see if it's a problem. Right? People are entitled to say maybe it was a problem, maybe it wasn't," he added. "It was our people -- my people, our people that helped her out. And then she blamed me for it. She blamed me, and it was our people that helped her. I don't get it. How did you put her there?"
Weirdly, Trump called the FBI "our people." The former President is like an arsonist that starts a fire, then comes out of the building to blame everyone else. And, of course, Lumpy downplayed the plot. After all, the suspects are his people.
