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.
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