Free Republic

One of the ringleaders in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was sentenced to more than 19 years behind bars Wednesday — a day after an accomplice was slapped with a 16-year prison term, federal prosecutors said. Barry Croft Jr., 47, was handed the 19½-year sentence by Michigan federal Judge Robert Jonker four months after his conviction for conspiring to kidnap the Democratic governor from her Elk Rapids vacation cottage in 2020. Croft, a trucker from Delaware, was the fourth and final defendant in the plot to learn his fate. The judge described him as “the idea guy”...

Among the many questions Americans deserve to have answered surrounding the FBI’s activities, the Whitmer kidnapping hoax is near the top of the list. For the first time since the government failed to win a single conviction in the alleged criminal plot to “kidnap” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, a top Justice Department official was publicly confronted about the FBI’s primary role in concocting the hoax. It was not a welcome line of inquiry, to say the least. Matthew Olsen, head of the National Security Division, repeatedly rebuffed questions by U.S. Representative Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) about the case during...

The Delaware man charged in federal court with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has a long criminal history and was pardoned just last year by Delaware’s governor for crimes dating to 1994, according to state records. Barry G. Croft Jr., 44, was taken into custody this week after being arrested by the FBI in Swedesboro, New Jersey. Croft made an initial appearance before a federal magistrate in Wilmington on Thursday. Croft was being held Friday at a state prison in Wilmington. A hearing on his continued detention and removal to Michigan is scheduled for Tuesday.

A militia group planned to violently depose Michigan’s government and abduct Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), the FBI said in a federal affidavit filed Thursday. "Several members talked about murdering 'tyrants' or 'taking' a sitting governor," an FBI agent wrote in the affidavit, obtained by the Detroit News. "The group decided they needed to increase their numbers and encouraged each other to talk to their neighbors and spread their message." Federal prosecutors plan to make a fuller statement on the alleged plot later Thursday, according to the newspaper. At least five men have been charged in connection with the alleged plot,...