Whitmer Kidnapping Plot Was Actually Plan C

The 14 men who allegedly plotted to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had initially planned to take over the state capitol building and execute public officials on TV, according to state officials. Allegations of the group's "Plan A" were contained in an October court filing obtained by the Detroit News. Some 200 members of the Wolverine Watchmen militia group were to storm the state house while Congress was in session, "take hostages, execute tyrants, and have it televised" over the course of a week, the eight-page brief reads, per the Kansas City Star. The intention was that "no one is coming out alive." Plan B allegedly involved the perpetrators locking legislators inside the building and burning it down, per WLS. The men eventually decided on Plan C—kidnapping Whitmer, per the brief.

It was filed in an effort on the part of the Michigan Attorney General's Office to block a bond reduction for one of eight men facing state terrorism charges, Pete Musico. Musico was released after his bond was dropped from $10 million to $100,000, per Detroit News. Several other accused—a group including six men charged in federal court in Grand Rapids—have also been released, per WLS. Some of the men attended the April 30 armed protest of Whitmer's stay-at-home orders at the Capitol and a Second Amendment rally at the Capitol in June, per Detroit News and Fox News. Afterward, they allegedly began training exercises covering "convoy tactics" and "taking a (possible) hostile vehicle over," per the Star. (Whitmer faults President Trump.)