A man who pleaded guilty to participating in a plot to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer told a courtroom that his alleged co-conspirators sought to “ignite” a civil war and disrupt the 2020 presidential election before they were targeted in a stunning FBI sting.
Star witness Ty Garbin, who described building a mock set of the governor’s home to practise how they would plan to break in, said the group “wanted to cause as much a disruption as possible to prevent Joe Biden from getting into office.”
“It didn’t have to be,” he said during testimony in US District Court on 23 March. “It was just preferred.”
He said kidnapping the state’s Democratic governor would serve as the “ignition” for civil war “and hopefully other states or other groups would follow suit.”
Garbin was sentenced to 75 months in prison after pleading guilty to participating in the 2020 plot in 2021 January. He has agreed to testify against Adam Fox, Daniel Harris, Brandon Caserta and Barry Croft, the four other men charged in the kidnapping conspiracy. They face up to life in prison if convicted.
He is one of two former defendants who has agreed to cooperate with the investigation. Kaleb Franks, who pleaded guilty to kidnapping conspiracy last month, is also expected to testify in the trial, which has entered its second week.
Garbin testified that the group feared an informant or FBI agent had compromised the group, prompting the men to discuss the potential consequences awaiting them if they were caught.
“This is my personal choice to be here,” Mr Caserta told the group, according to covertly captured recordings that were played for the jury. “I accept responsibility for what happens here ... I’ll do my time.”
Garbin walked jurors through his involvement with the Wolverine Watchmen, which he joined in March 2020, leading to his introduction to Mr Fox and meetings to discuss various plans – from storming the state Capitol to firebombing police vehicles – in the basement of a vacuum store.
He explained the groups’ training, including a late-night trip to her weekend home, and construction of a “shoot house” to practise the potential assault.
Garbin also testified that the group established a medical station to treat gunshot and shrapnel wounds and lost limbs.
Assistant US Attorney Nils Kessler asked whether those were the wounds the men “expected to receive” in carrying out their plot.
“Yes,” Garbin replied.
He also admitted that there was “no question” among the men that the goal was to kidnap the governor, Garbin said.
Defence attorneys sought to undermine the seriousness of the men’s planning and their lack of skills to pull off such a plot.
