Assorted Militia/SovCit news,(formerly Bundy thread)

[China]

On 4/28/2021 at 2:12 PM, China said:

Feds file weapon of mass destruction charges against accused Whitmer kidnap plotters

 

Federal prosecutors Wednesday filed a charge of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction against three men accused of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and use bombs to carry out the attack.

 

The new charges against Potterville resident Adam Fox, 38, Delaware resident Barry Croft, 45, and Daniel Harris, 23, of Lake Orion come six months after the FBI said agents thwarted a plot to kidnap and kill Whitmer — a conspiracy that included visits to her home in northern Michigan and training with firearms and explosive devices. Each man faces one weapon of mass destruction charge.

 

Along with the kidnapping conspiracy count, the new charge means Fox, Croft and Harris are now facing two charges that could send them to federal prison for the rest of their lives if convicted in a case that has focused national attention on violent extremism in Michigan.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

Men Accused of Plotting to Kidnap Gov. Whitmer Accuse Feds of ‘Egregious Overreaching’ in Bid to Dismiss Indictment

 

The men charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) tried to dismiss their indictment on Christmas, alleging “egregious overreaching by the government’s agents” whom they accused of entrapment.

 

“The key to the government’s plan was to turn general discontent with Governor Whitmer’s COVID-19 restrictions into a crime that could be prosecuted,” their attorneys wrote in a 20-page motion to dismiss on Saturday. “The government picked what it knew would be a sensational charge: conspiracy to kidnap the governor. When the government was faced with evidence showing that the defendants had no interest in a kidnapping plot, it refused to accept failure and continued to push its plan.”

 

This past April, federal prosecutors leveled weapons of mass destruction charges against the accused plotters Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr., and Daniel Joseph Harris. The trio were first indicted on lesser charges in December 2020, along with Kaleb Franks, Brandon Caserta, and Ty Garbin.

 

Garbin pleaded guilty to the kidnapping plot in January and received a more than six-year prison sentence.

 

In July, BuzzFeed News reported that the FBI was aware of the anti-Whitmer plot throughout its duration and engaged in activity that one defendant, at the time, alleged to be entrapment. Now five remaining accused plotters have signed that entrapment claim, an often-alleged and rarely successful defense in domestic terrorism cases.

 

“The facts show that there was no conspiracy,” the lawyers wrote in their motion. “In the alternative, because the government overreached and committed serious acts of misconduct against defendants who had repudiated the government’s suggested wrongdoing, the defense can establish entrapment as a matter of law.”

 

The motion was signed by all of the remaining defendants’ lawyers: Christopher Gibbons, representing Fox; Scott Graham, representing Franks; Joshua A. Blanchard, representing Croft; Julia Kelly, representing Harris; and Michael Hills, representing Caserta.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

How the defense plans to clear suspects in Gov. Whitmer kidnap trial

 

He was referred to as "Captain Autism," the accused ringleader in the alleged plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

 

But with a nickname like that, the defense argues, it's clear the man's codefendants didn't take him seriously, or believe that he could commit a crime — like hatch a plan to snatch and kill the governor.

 

That was entirely the FBI's doing, the defense maintains, not Adam Fox's. 

 

"No one would have conspired with Adam Fox because no one believed he had any ability to form, much less carry out, a plan," the defense argues in a new court filing that outlines how it plans to fight the government in the upcoming trial that highlights the growth of extremism in America.

 

With the trial three months away, the defense this week asked the court for permission to let jurors hear 258 statements that it believes will prove the FBI planted the kidnapping idea in the suspects' heads, egged them on with hateful comments about Whitmer and her COVID-19 mandates, and choreographed all the events that led to their arrests at a warehouse in October 2020.

 

The statements at issue involve mostly audio recordings of FBI agents, undercover informants and the defendants, and text messages. The prosecution could argue that they are hearsay, though the defense disagrees.

 

Fox, the alleged ringleader, and four others go to trial March 8 in federal court in Grand Rapids on kidnapping conspiracy charges that could send them to prison for life if convicted. Prosecutors say the men cased Whitmer's vacation house at night, planned to blow up a nearby bridge to slow down police, drew up a map and bought night goggles, and talked about taking her out on a boat and stranding her in Lake Michigan — and even scooping her up in a helicopter and flying her away to some unidentified location.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Accused Whitmer kidnap plotters lose bid to dismiss criminal case

 

A federal judge Tuesday refused to dismiss the indictment against five members of an alleged plot to kidnap and kill Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, calling defense claims of entrapment and government overreaching a "heavy burden to carry."

 

U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker filed his order less than two months before the five men are scheduled to stand trial on kidnapping conspiracy and weapons of mass destruction charges that could send them to federal prison for up to life.

 

Accused ringleader Adam Fox, 38, of Potterville and four others needed to show that evidence demonstrates FBI agents and informants induced them to commit crimes. The defendants also needed to show "a patently clear absence" of evidence that they were predisposed to commit the crimes, the judge wrote.

 

"Defendants fail to carry their burden because the evidence on both issues is decidedly disputed as it almost inevitably is at this stage of the case," Jonker wrote.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Judge tells Whitmer kidnap suspect: No, you can't use Jan. 6 Capitol riot as a defense

 

One of the suspects in the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer alleged kidnapping case wanted to raise the infamous 2021 U.S. Capitol riot at trial, alleging the FBI's handling of the deadly insurrection points to a "consciousness of guilt" by the government.

 

But the judge told him no.

 

On Wednesday, Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker denied Kaleb Franks permission to raise "wider, national concerns" regarding the FBI's alleged use of undercover agents and informants in the 2021 insurrection.  Franks, 27, of Waterford, also wanted jurors to hear about a U.S. senator's questions about the FBI's actions in the riot, alleging the inquiries are relevant to an "objective" entrapment defense because they "show the government's consciousness of overreaching."

 

Jonker disagreed, concluding the information Franks wants to present is both inadmissible, irrelevant and potentially misleading.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

On 12/18/2021 at 11:11 AM, China said:

 

The FBI Said It Busted A Plot To Kidnap Michigan’s Governor. Then Things Got Complicated.

 

When federal officials announced, on Oct. 8, 2020, that they had foiled a plot by militant extremists to kidnap Michigan’s governor, it was quickly hailed as one of the most important domestic terrorism prosecutions in a generation. They didn't mention FBI agent Jayson Chambers by name, but those who had worked the case knew that his role helping to run a central informant had been crucial.

 

There was, however, something about Chambers that some colleagues might not have known: 18 months earlier, he’d incorporated a private security firm and had spent much of 2019 trying to drum up business — in part by touting his FBI casework. The bureau won’t say if Chambers had gotten permission to set up his new venture, as agents would be required to do, but just five days after BuzzFeed News revealed its existence this August, federal prosecutors announced that he would not be on the list of witnesses testifying in the upcoming trial.

 

A continuing BuzzFeed News investigation reveals new information about how Chambers' business, along with an array of issues involving other FBI agents and informants, has bedeviled the prosecution. Those issues may well affect the course of the trial. But beyond the integrity of the case, the problems are serious and widespread enough to call into question tactics the FBI has relied on for decades — and to test the public’s trust in the bureau overall.

 

That situation is complicated by the fact that the case has become a political lightning rod, with right-wing commentators calling it a prime example of government overreach. Some even baselessly assert that the Michigan investigation was a test run for what they claim was a false flag operation conducted on Jan. 6.

 

Meanwhile, the challenges facing the prosecution mount: A second FBI agent, who had served as the case’s public face, was charged with beating his wife when they returned home from a swingers party. He was fired soon thereafter. A third agent was accused of perjury. A state prosecutor in a related case was reassigned and then retired in the face of an audit into his prior use of informants.

 

And an informant whose work was crucial to the investigation was indicted on a gun charge and is now under investigation for fraud. 

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

2nd suspect in Michigan governor kidnapping plot to plead guilty, says he 'knowingly and voluntarily' joined plot

 

After trying everything he could, Kaleb Franks has cut a deal with the government in which he will plead guilty to his role in the alleged plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and testify against his co-defendants, according to a new court filing.

 

A 19-page plea agreement was filed in Grand Rapids federal court Monday on behalf of Franks, whose lawyer had filed multiple requests in recent weeks hoping to advance his entrapment defense. Nearly all were denied.

 

"The defendant agrees to plead guilty to the superseding indictment, which charges him with kidnapping conspiracy," states the plea agreement, which also notes that Franks, 27, "understands the crime."

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Califan007 The Constipated]

[youngestson]

I wonder how much one is a reaction to the other?

[Bang]

Both of them probably think the other one is why they are both murderous nutbags.

 

~Bang

[tshile]

The one in the tank tops arms look suspect 

 

could be cute 

The one on the right… I don’t think green is a good color for her

 

maybe just not that much green. 

[The Sisko]

16 hours ago, youngestson said:

I wonder how much one is a reaction to the other?

The only problem with your idea is that this mindset came long before anyone in this country knew or cared about Islamic extremism and 9-11. The McVeigh bombing and the Army of God killing abortion clinic staff are good examples. If you look at a list of these kinds of attacks, a few things jump out. First, in the 80's and 90's most of these attacks were, generally speaking, far-right white nationalists targeting various other people/groups they hate. Then, there was a spate of anti-Muslim attacks in the years following 9/11, not long after which, they returned to their previous targets, i.e. POC, Jews, LGBTQ, etc. The second thing that's easy to see is that the rate of far-right attacks is accelerating. If this is about Karen and the far-right hubby she lives with being afraid of Muslims and the silly lies told for political purposes about them trying to implement Sharia law in the US, these attacks wouldn't be targeted at LatinX people shopping at a Walmart and Black people praying in a church.

 

Now certainly not everyone like the woman in the picture are violent white nationalists. However, those that aren't create and perpetuate a culture that normalizes their ideas about race and the need for violence to "take their country back." This country is on the verge of some really bad things potentially happening. Denial will only help make them more likely to happen. The article below is a bit long, but it's worth reading.

 

Quote

Scott was a top undercover agent for the FBI, putting himself in harm's way dozens of times. Now, he’s telling his story for the first time to sound the alarm about the threat of far-right extremists in America

...But he’s breaking his covenant now for the reason he took that footage: He is haunted by what the people onscreen will do if their movement — and their moment — aren’t thwarted. Over months of interviews with Scott and his former colleagues, hours-long conversations with domestic-terror experts, and wormhole dives down fascist portals on apps like Gab and Discord, a portrait emerged of a nation under threat from a thousand points of hate. “We’ve seen massive increases in plots and acts” committed by domestic terrorists, says Bruce Hoffman, a Georgetown professor and counterterror authority whose Inside Terrorism is the master text on the subject. “Me and my team lay awake nights kicking the walls, because there’s a million-and-a-half guys online plotting murder,” says Rita Katz, the founder and director of the SITE Intelligence Group, and the author of the forthcoming Saints and Soldiers, which tracks the rise of far-right terror in the age of Trump. “We’re in a business where we can’t be wrong once,” says Scott. “And there’s way more of them than us undercovers.”...

 

...Two thoughts went through him in a blur: This’ll be the shortest undercover in history (it wasn’t — he’d parked under a power line, fuzzing the rod’s reception), and How are these kids buying equipment the FBI doesn’t have? That question, or something like it, came up again all weekend as he scoped out the armory they’d amassed. Each member of the Base who came to Lane’s place had a kit he could hit the ground with in Tikrit. Set aside their long guns with which they aired out Star of David targets. What stunned Scott was all their ancillary gear: bulletproof vests with ceramic plates that could stop an AK round, and loaded battle-rattles holding gas masks and mag clips and everything you’d need in a firefight. “These boys were tight,” says Scott in grudging awe. “Their shoot-and-move skills, their magazine dumps — for home-schooled dudes, they were pretty squared away.”

 

[China]

On 2/8/2022 at 2:31 PM, China said:

 

2nd suspect in Michigan governor kidnapping plot to plead guilty, says he 'knowingly and voluntarily' joined plot

 

After trying everything he could, Kaleb Franks has cut a deal with the government in which he will plead guilty to his role in the alleged plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and testify against his co-defendants, according to a new court filing.

 

A 19-page plea agreement was filed in Grand Rapids federal court Monday on behalf of Franks, whose lawyer had filed multiple requests in recent weeks hoping to advance his entrapment defense. Nearly all were denied.

 

"The defendant agrees to plead guilty to the superseding indictment, which charges him with kidnapping conspiracy," states the plea agreement, which also notes that Franks, 27, "understands the crime."

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

Waterford Twp. man pleads guilty over plot to kidnap Whitmer

 

A Waterford Township man admitted Wednesday that he plotted to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and said federal investigators and informants did not entrap him or his co-conspirators.

 

The admission and guilty plea by Kaleb Franks in federal court in Grand Rapids gives prosecutors a second key insider who is expected to testify next month at the trial of four other men accused of plotting to kidnap Whitmer. The case has shed light on violent extremism in Michigan motivated by anger over restrictions Whitmer imposed during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[mistertim]

 

My friend sent this to me earlier.

 

During his sentencing this "Moorish American" literally talked himself into 5 years in prison when he had the possibility of nothing but probation.

 

He got rid of his lawyer, then proceeded to keep trying his SovCit Moorish mumbo-jumbo throughout the whole sentence hearing.

 

And even then at the very end the judge gave him one last chance to convince him that he would follow the terms of probation and the guy just kept up with the nonsense. The result is 5 years in prison.

 

 

 

[China]

Defendants in alleged Gov. Whitmer kidnap plan claim innocence, entrapment

 

Attorneys for four men accused of conspiring to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Wednesday, March 9, that government informants and undercover FBI agents pushed the scheme but denied their clients took part.

 

Julia Kelly, the attorney for Daniel Harris, said her client didn’t go along with “wild ideas” espoused by informants – and only hung around with the others because of shared interests in firearms, tactical training and partying.

 

“He was not perfect in the summer of 2020 but he did not do what the government’s accused him of,” she said in her opening statement.

 

Testimony began Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids after attorneys’ opening statements.

 

Harris, a resident of Lake Orion, is on trial with Brandon Michael-Ray Caserta of Canton, Barry Croft Jr. of Bear, Delaware, and Adam Fox of Wyoming.

 

They are accused of plotting the governor’s kidnapping because they were upset about shutdowns imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19.

 

Josh Blanchard, representing Croft, a suspected leader of the alleged plot, said the FBI had targeted his client since 2017 based on his anti-FBI comments on Facebook.

 

He said that there was “no plan, no agreement and no kidnapping.”

 

An FBI special agent, the first witness in the trial, testified that Croft’s remarks on Facebook would not lead the FBI to investigate. Rather, he said, a man concerned about the group’s online chatter contacted the FBI.

 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Roth disputed the notion the defendants were entrapped by undercover FBI or paid informants. He said they were willing participants.

 

The defendants’ actions were so extreme that others walked away, he said.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Ammon Bundy arrested on charge of trespassing in Meridian

 

Ammon Bundy, independent candidate for Idaho governor and a leader of the “People’s Rights” movement, faces a misdemeanor trespassing charge in Meridian.

 

Ada County Jail records show Bundy, 46, was booked into jail at 1:15 a.m. Saturday, then released. Meridian Police had arrested him on suspicion of “first offense trespass – failure to depart.”

 

A statement from Bundy's campaign, posted on Twitter, says he was arrested in front of St. Luke’s Meridian Medical Center “for the crime of disagreeing with the hospital and CPS.”

 

According to the statement, Bundy had arrived at the hospital in support of a family whose baby had been “medically kidnapped” due to a missed non-emergency doctor’s appointment.

 

The Meridian Police Dept. said in a news release issued later Saturday morning that police on Friday received an Idaho Health and Welfare referral about a ten-month-old child who had been admitted to the hospital on March 1 "after medical personnel determined the child was suffering from severe malnourishment."

 

The child was discharged into the care of its parents on March 4, after the child was able to gain enough weight. However, during a follow-up appointment, Meridian Police said, it was determined that the child had again lost a significant amount of weight, but the parents canceled the next follow-up appointment and could not be located. Meridian Police had been advised that the child's condition could lead to severe injury or even death if left untreated.

 

Meridian Police said Health and Welfare was able to contact the child’s father, who agreed to bring the child in for an examination, but then failed to show up. When officers attempted to contact the parents and check on the child at a home in Meridian, the people inside refused to let officers check on the child's welfare.

 

Meridian Police received a warrant to enter the home, but discovered the parents and the child had left before officers could check on the child. Garden City Police located a vehicle driven by the father of the child and conducted a traffic stop on Chinden Boulevard. That's when Meridian Police took the child into custody, then took the child to St. Luke's Meridian.

 

According to Meridian Police, Bundy "and several of his followers" showed up to St. Luke’s Meridian and refused to leave the property when asked to do so.

 

In addition to Bundy, officers also arrested Wendy Kay Whitaker, 69, Miranda Chavoya, 23, and Marissa Anderson, 21.

 

Police accuse Whitaker of attempting to interfere in Bundy's arrest and also refusing to leave St. Luke's property.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Guns, flexible handcuffs in home of defendant in alleged plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer, FBI says

 

The FBI seized firearms, ammunition, a gas mask and flexible plastic handcuffs at the home of a suspected leader of an alleged plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

 

FBI special agent Brian Clark testified Friday, March 24, in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids that investigators in October 2020 used a search warrant at Vac Shack in Wyoming, the second-most populated city in the Grand Rapids metro area.

 

Adam Fox, one of four defendants on trial, lived in the basement, surrounded by old vacuums. The owner, a friend, was unaware of Fox’s activities, he previously told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press.

 

Clark testified that investigators found a small bedroom-like area, cordoned off by sheets instead of walls, in the basement, accessible by a door in the upstairs floor.

 

Fox had fallen on hard times and needed a place to stay.

 

The FBI seized two rifles, a pistol, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, knives, Zip Ties, flexible handcuffs, a gas mask, head lamp, binoculars, a tactical vest and pouches of Meal, Ready to Eat rations, or MREs, Clark testified.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

[China]

Looks like they'll try for a mistrial because a juror can't stay awake:

 

Juror falls asleep as defense challenges suicidal Whitmer kidnap plotter

 

Kaleb Franks told the jury that he was so depressed in the summer of 2020 that he joined a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, hoping to die — and that he did so willingly with no enticing from the feds.

 

The defense sought to challenge Frank's testimony on Friday, though ran into a logistical problem: a sleeping juror.

 

A defense attorney expressed this concern to the judge during a midmorning break, saying a male juror had fallen asleep through the morning, and that he had nodded off other days as well.

 

"Our solution is to keep it interesting," Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker told both sides, adding: "I can sympathize."

 

Here is what the sleeping juror may have missed:

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Did This Accused Whitmer Kidnap Plotter Just Doom Himself?

 

A former Marine accused of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer testified on his own behalf on Thursday, repeatedly denying his role in the 2020 scheme to violently overthrow the government.

 

But 24-year-old Daniel Harris’ decision to take the stand may have just jeopardized his defense strategy, which is grounded in the argument that FBI agents and a “double agent” informant actually orchestrated the conspiracy and entrapped the group.

 

“You never know what a jury is going to do, but I think it was a risky move that will blow up in the defense’s face because Harris was not credible and his testimony was inconsistent with their other arguments,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told The Daily Beast on Thursday.

 

Harris was the only defendant on federal trial in Grand Rapids to take the stand, where he repeatedly answered “absolutely not” when asked whether he planned to kidnap the Democratic lawmaker in October 2020. Moments later, the Wolverine Watchmen member went so far as to call an FBI informant “a ****” while denying his participation in the conspiracy.

 

Shortly after Harris testified, the defense for all four men rested their case.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Defense rests in trial of 4 men in Gov. Whitmer kidnap plot

 

Defense attorneys quickly rested their case Thursday after one of four men charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer repeatedly said “absolutely not” when asked if he had agreed to abduct her before the 2020 election.

 

Daniel Harris was the only defendant to speak to jurors on the 14th day of trial. It was a risky, dramatic shift following days of testimony from undercover FBI agents, a gutsy informant and two men who have pleaded guilty and pointed fingers at the rest.

 

Closing arguments were planned for Friday.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

At Least Sovereign Citizens' Pretend License Plates Look Cool Now

 

“Sovereign citizenship” is a belief in pseudo-legal theory that certain Latin phrases, interpretations of law, name spellings and peculiarities around state documentation and signatures mean you don’t have to register your car, obtain a driver’s license, or indeed follow any laws deemed harmful to your own personal freedom. This is, of course, absurd, and very much illegal.

 

Now, these sovereign citizens often make their grift look vaguely official, to make them more believable as a legal defense, but that often ends in boring fakeries that don’t quite look official or anything like the real thing. But some who ascribed to this fringe theory have brought a little flair to their fake (and very illegal) license plates.

 

A recent Twitter thread from Mark Pitcavage, senior research fellow and expert in the sovereign citizen movement at the Center on Extremism, Anti-Defamation League, is a stirring reminder of just how many patches there are on the crazy quilt. Pitcavage told Jalopnik such plates have been in circulations since the sovereign citizen movement first appeared on the scene in the 1970s.

 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

 

Click for the whole thread

[Cooked Crack]

 

[China]

Two Men Convicted in Plot to Kidnap Michigan’s Governor

 

A federal jury in Michigan found two men guilty on Tuesday of plotting to kidnap the state’s Democratic governor, ending one of the highest-profile domestic terrorism cases in recent history and providing a measure of vindication to prosecutors who brought the case to trial a second time after a previous jury declined to convict.

 

Prosecutors presented the men, Barry Croft and Adam Fox, as threats to democracy who planned to capture Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at her vacation home in 2020, detonate explosives to disrupt the police response and perhaps touch off a civil war in the process.

 

“You can’t just strap on an AR-15 and body armor and snatch the governor,” Nils Kessler, a federal prosecutor, said during closing arguments.

 

But proving the case meant persuading jurors to trust a sprawling F.B.I. investigation that embedded several federal operatives around the group. Among them were an informant who became second-in-command of a militia and an undercover agent who offered to provide explosives. Earlier this year, another jury failed to reach verdicts for Mr. Croft and Mr. Fox, and acquitted two of their co-defendants.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

 

[LD0506]

4 minutes ago, China said:

 

 

[China]

Judge concerned that juror is flirting with defendant in Whitmer kidnap trial

 

A juror in the third Gretchen Whitmer kidnap trial is under scrutiny over concerns she is flirting with one of the defendants, smiling at him from the jury box and looking at him frequently — so frequently that the judge said he's going to keep an eye on her.

 

"I see her looking directly at your client, and a number of times I've seen smiles coming out of her face. It's enough that it's drawing my attention," Jackson County Circuit Judge Thomas Wilson told the defendant's lawyer, adding "I'm going to be paying close attention. ... I don't know if I'm going to kick her off or not."

 

The defendant at issue is 22-year-old Paul Bellar of Milford, the youngest defendant charged in the sensational domestic terrorism case that is now playing out in state court after four defendants were previously convicted, and two others acquitted in federal court.

 

Click on the link for the full article