Happy Birthday Gretchen Whitmer, We Got You This Guilty Verdict Of Dudes Who Tried To Kill You!

YOU ARE WELCOME, MICHIGAN GOVERNOR THAT WOMAN.

A federal jury found two would-be militia hotshots guilty of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in retaliation for her being a tyrant who wanted to slow the spread of the coronavirus, just like tyrants have historically done. Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. were both found guilty of conspiracy to kidnap Whitmer, and of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, and Croft was also convicted of another weapons charge as well. They face life in prison for the crimes, although they insisted they were merely innocent meatheads fantasizing about doing some patriotic 1776ing and then entrapped by the FBI. The jury didn't buy that.

It's Gov. Whitmer's birthday, so happy birthday to you!

 In a statement, Whitmer thanked law enforcement and prosecutors, and said the verdicts

prove that violence and threats have no place in our politics and those who seek to divide us will be held accountable. They will not succeed.

But we must also take a hard look at the status of our politics. Plots against public officials and threats to the FBI are a disturbing extension of radicalized domestic terrorism that festers in our nation, threatening the very foundation of our republic.

An earlier trial in April had ended with not guilty verdicts for two other men allegedly involved in the kidnapping plot, but that jury deadlocked on the charges against Fox and Crofts. Two other men, Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, pleaded guilty earlier. The six had planned to kidnap Whitmer from her vacation home, put her on "trial' themselves on charges of doing tyrant stuff, and then to execute her, while blowing up a bridge to keep cops from interfering. They were arrested after meeting with what they thought was a contact who would give them explosives and guns to carry out the plot. Surprise, that was actually the FBI.

One of Croft's lawyers, Joshua Blanchard, claimed the case was nothing but entrapment most foul, saying the feds had lured Croft all the way from Delaware to Michigan because the dude is pretty gullible we guess:

Mr. Blanchard told jurors that “the F.B.I. has told us that the truth doesn’t matter to them” and that “this isn’t Russia.”

“They weren’t about to let the truth get in the way of the story they want to tell,” Mr. Blanchard said.

Defense attorneys said they plan to appeal the verdict. As the Detroit Free Press notes, 

Defense attorneys accused the judge of favoring the prosecution by repeatedly cutting them off during questioning, calling their arguments "crap," and setting time limits only on the defense attorneys — telling them they could only take as much time to question witnesses as the prosecution.

The kidnapping plot followed online provocations by Donald Trump, who had called on Twitter for Michigan and other states to be set free from pandemic restrictions. We bet that in the wake of this verdict, Trump is really feeling sorry for himself because the FBI searched his trash palace, which was even worse than anything Whitmer had to endure.

As of blog time, no militia loons have yet called for the unleashing of a new civil war in reaction to the verdict, but then, Fox's nightly four-hours' hate hasn't aired yet.

Happy birthday and also OPEN THREAD!

[ Detroit Free Press / NYT ]

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