News/Commentary

Jury fails to convict men in alleged kidnap plot against MI Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

April 9, 2022 | | Print Article

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In more bad news for the federal government’s case in the alleged kidnap plot against Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, two of the men accused of being a part of the alleged conspiracy were acquitted on Friday.

After five days of deliberations following weeks of testimony, jurors at a U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, MI acquitted 24-year-old Daniel Harris and 33-year-old Brandon Caserta who were both members of the Wolverine Watchmen, an anti-government group that was accused of scheming to kidnap the Michigan Democrat in 2020 as retaliation for her COVID policies, some of the harshest in the nation.

However, the Justice Department’s case has been plagued by evidence and testimony that the FBI’s big bust was, in reality, an entrapment scheme and that the suggestions that Whitmer should be abducted were just “stoned crazy talk,” from the defendants.

For one of the freed men, the verdict had special significance. “Best birthday gift ever,” Caserta told supporters as relatives yelled “Happy Birthday” inside the federal courtroom in downtown Grand Rapids,” according to the Detroit News.

In addition to Harris and Caserta being found not guilty of all charges, jurors were unable to reach a verdict against 38-year-old Adam Fox and 46-year-old Barry Croft whom prosecutors said were the ringleaders of the plot, deadlocking on charges in a humiliating defeat for the federal government as well as leftists who blamed it on former President Donald J. Trump.

One of those who did so was then-candidate Joe Biden who all but accused his election opponent of being behind it.

The trial which lasted 20 days fell far short of expectations for Democrats, especially those in the media who were clearly disappointed.

(Video: YouTube/CBS)

Many took to Twitter to react to the verdict including Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene who called for accountability at the federal level.

“The FBI and DOJ need a complete and total cleansing. It must be one of our top priorities,” she wrote. “All the rot must be removed and these agencies must be restored.”

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald who has long been an outspoken critic of the federal government’s entrapment schemes wrote, “The DOJ completely failed to convict anyone in the ‘Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot’ that the FBI concocted, paid for, directed and orchestrated.”

Other responses to the jury’s rebuke of the feds.

Despite the hysterical coverage by the media, the government’s case was highly suspect from the start and turned into a roaring dumpster fire after the FBI’s man who was spearheading the operation, Special Agent Richard Trask was fired following a bizarre chain of events. He was taken into custody by the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office last year after a domestic abuse incident that stemmed from a quarrel when he and his wife had attended a “swingers party” which his spouse apparently did not enjoy.

Trask choked her and “grabbed the side of her head and smashed it several times on the nightstand,” the altercation left her with “blood all over chest, clothing arms and hand,” according to court records, a perfect poster boy for the fed’s ill-fated case against the hapless braggarts who were lured into a spider’s web of skullduggery that ultimately failed to pass muster with a jury of their peers.

Whitmer’s Chief of Staff JoAnne Huls reacted to the jury’s decision, furiously lashing out in a press release.

(Image: Screenshot)

“Today, Michiganders and Americans—especially our children—are living through the normalization of political violence. The plot to kidnap and kill a governor may seem like an anomaly. But we must be honest about what it really is: the result of violent, divisive rhetoric that is all too common across our country. Without accountability, extremists will be emboldened,” she wrote.

“The governor remains focused on her work on behalf of Michigan and all Michiganders. That includes addressing violence and threats to our democracy. We appreciate the prosecutors and law enforcement officers for their work on this case,” the statement read.

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