The four men on trial for plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer spent months meticulously planning out the scheme, which they hoped would incite a second civil war and prevent Joe Biden from winning the presidency, according to court testimony Wednesday from the government’s star witness.
The defendants, who are members of far-right anti-government militia groups, argued they were set up by overzealous undercover FBI informants that, unbeknownst to them at the time, were embedded in their group. But Ty Garbin, who was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to plotting to kidnap Whitmer in January 2021, testified there was “no question” that he and the defendants were willing participants in the plot.
Garbin, 26, described during his testimony multiple meetings he participated with the defendants in the months leading up to their October 2020 arrest in which they planned to kidnap Whitmer, whom they considered a tyrant for her restrictive COVID-19 policies.
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Garbin recounted a pivotal meeting he participated in at a co-defendant’s house on July 23, 2020. During the meeting, the plotters candidly acknowledged they were reaching the “point of no return” and that they wouldn’t be able to return to their families or live a normal life if they went any further in their plot.
The alleged ringleader of the plot, Adam Fox, referred to Whitmer as the “asset” in planning discussions, Garbin said.
Garbin also said the plotters pooled funds and organized multiple field training events in the summer of 2020 that were all geared around preparing to kidnap Whitmer.
Garbin described how the plotters practiced storming and snatching the governor using a “shoot house” he had constructed to resemble Whitmer’s vacation home. They also prepared to engage in vehicular combat with police, which they expected would try to stop them from carrying out the plot.
The plotters also set up medical stations at the field training events to learn how to treat combat wounds ranging from gunshot and shrapnel wounds to lost limbs.
Garbin recounted multiple meetings in which the plotters schemed to prevent a swift police reaction to their kidnapping. Options on the table included firebombing the Michigan state police to destroy as many police cars as possible and destroying a bridge situated near Whitmer’s vacation home to slow down law enforcement.
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The plotters hoped to kidnap Whitmer before the 2020 election, as they feared the Secret Service would take over her security detail if Biden won the White House and nominated the governor to a position in his Cabinet.
They also hoped that by kidnapping Whitmer before the election, the chaos that would ensue would prevent Biden from defeating then-President Donald Trump.
“We wanted to cause as much a disruption as possible to prevent Joe Biden from getting into office,” Garbin testified. “It didn’t have to be. It was just preferred.”
Ultimately, however, he testified that the plotters aimed to begin a second civil war.
“We wanted to be the first to kick it off,” Garbin said.
Hours before Garbin’s testimony Wednesday, defense lawyers filed a motion to force an undercover FBI informant involved in the investigation on the stand.
Prosecutors previously dubbed the informant, Steve Robeson, a “double agent” for going off the rails and failing to follow their directive to avoid committing “unsanctioned crimes” during the investigation. Specifically, prosecutors said Robeson assisted the plotters by using charity under his control to purchase weapons and offering his drone to plotters to aid in acts of domestic terrorism. Prosecutors added that Robeson failed to record “pertinent conversations and events” during the investigation.
Defense attorneys alleged that Robeson’s actions as an undercover informant were “sanctioned” by his FBI handlers.
“Robeson was given authorization and direction by his handlers who had knowledge of his actions throughout the investigation. They sanctioned his activities; paid, reimbursed, and rewarded his actions; gave him otherwise-illegal-activity authorization in some instances; provided him with recording materials; and continued to allow him to continue in his ways,” the defense attorneys said.
“Robeson now seeks to assist the government to avoid answering for their actions by hiding behind the pretense of self-incrimination despite being given nearly carte blanche authority by his agents and handlers to galivant across the country, parading himself as the leader of a national militia and being a significant link in the defendants’ case,” they added.
Garbin’s testimony followed three days of testimony from a key FBI undercover informant who was embedded in the group as the kidnapping plot developed.
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Dan Chappel, who was known as “Big Dan” to the defendants, testified Monday that he tried to dissuade the plotters from going forward with their plans to kidnap Whitmer by shooting a bullet through a window of her vacation home to send a message.
“[Fox] was wanting to kidnap and kill the governor, so I was trying to de-escalate,” Chappel said, adding that nobody would get hurt by putting a round through a window.
