Defendants in alleged Whitmer kidnapping plot are arguing FBI informants engineered plan

Gretchen Whitmer.
(Image credit: Michigan Office of the Governor via AP, File)

Many of the attorneys representing the men accused in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) earlier this year say they are turning their focus toward convincing the jury that FBI informants had engineered the plan, BuzzFeed News reports.

That will likely be difficult to pull off in court, especially amid what one defense lawyer called a "haystack" of damning evidence against the suspects, BuzzFeed notes. But the publication's lengthy examination of the case based on "an analysis of court filings, transcripts, exhibits, audio recordings, and other documents, as well as interviews with more than two dozen people with direct knowledge of the case" suggests that some of the informants did play a "far larger role" in the strategizing than has been previously been reported.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.