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.

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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.