Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer alleged kidnapping plot training video released

CHICAGO (WLS) – New video obtained this evening by the ABC7 I-Team shows accused Michigan militiamen practicing live fire, according to federal prosecutors. Prosecutors charged the men in an alleged scheme to kidnap and possibly kill Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

At the center of the alleged plot to kidnap Governor Whitmer at gunpoint was a man named Barry Croft, who carries a flag of Boogaloo Wood, a far-right anti-government movement. Croft is in photos and video obtained by the I-Team which prosecutors say shows him and others practicing live assault weapons, preparing for an assault violent against the summer residence of the governor of Michigan.

Prosecutors say the video was taken during a militia live fire exercise in southern Wisconsin. Federal agents enlisted twelve confidential informants to provide information on Barry Croft and other members of the Wolverine Watchmen, a militia that allegedly put in place a plan last year to kidnap and potentially killing the governor of Michigan.

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Digital messages allegedly involving Croft, also provided to the I-Team today, refer to a bridge near the governor’s vacation home that authorities say militiamen spotted, photographed and planned to detonate during their commando attack. All of this information was presented during Croft’s detention hearing last January, but public release was delayed by defense fears the footage could poison a pool of potential jurors.

“This is a legitimate claim because it is true, it can make it more difficult to select a fair jury, but the reality is that it is seldom enough to demand a transfer of location from anywhere the trial would be pending at another location, “former Chicago federal prosecutor Gil Soffer said. Soffer, ABC7’s legal analyst, said tonight that these live-fire training videos could make it harder to defend Croft and the others; but the real damage could come from a dozen informants.

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“You could see such a high number in a sprawling narcotics conspiracy stretching from coast to coast and beyond. That’s a pretty high number in a case like this, it really reflects, I think how deep the government has gone into this investigation to try to make these cases, ”Soffer told the I-Team.

Before the FBI launched such a thorough investigation, the Wolverine Watchmen weren’t even considered a violent threat according to the defendants’ lawyers. In the latest defense brief tonight, they say the group was not engaged in illegal conduct of any kind. A Croft lawyer did not respond to a request for comment from the I-Team, but told our ABC-Detroit station that they “look forward to presenting all the facts to a jury this fall.”