by Just the News Staff
Prosecutors on day-two of the trial for the men charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday played a covertly recorded tape in which one defendant apparently discussed a plan to abduct the governor.
The recording was made during in July 2020 and includes Barry Croft Jr., one of the four defendants, seeming to describe having a team to nab Whitmer as another team possibly uses explosives to deter law enforcement.
Prosecutors say the four defendants – Croft, Adam Fox, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta – planned to kidnap the Democrat governor from her Michigan vacation home because they thought her COVID-19 restrictions were overreaching.
They also allegedly planned to blow up a nearby bridge to slow the police response.
Defense attorneys in early court statements said their clients were braggarts and had no means to pull off such a crime. They also said FBI agents tricked them into the kidnap plot.
The audio played Thursday in the federal courtroom in Grand Rapids was recorded by a confidential informant for the FBI and marked the first time the jury heard a defendant talking specifically about abducting Whitmer, according to the Associated Press.
In other recordings, jurors heard what prosecutors said was Croft and Fox talking at a June 6, 2020, meeting of anti-government activists in Ohio.
Fox is heard on audio, recorded by an FBI informant, telling the group: “You need to take hostages.”
FBI agent Todd Reineck testified earlier…
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