Some interesting details come out surrounding the Gov. Whitmer Kidnapping plot

[ThatRobGuy]

Gov. Whitmer Kidnapping Suspects Claim Entrapment

Plot to Kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Hatched in Ohio, Was Conceived and Steered by FBI

FBI informants had bigger role in Whitmer kidnap plot than thought: report

The group accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Whitmer was riddled with FBI informants who took leading roles, according to BuzzFeed

Posted the story from a couple different sources...


Which ties into this:
Men accused of Whitmer kidnapping plot say FBI set them up: report

...where several of the men involved are likely to make an entrapment claim defense, and there is some precedent regards to previous cases where acquittals have been handed down when it's uncovered that the agency had involvement going well past the realm of "infiltration" and "observation".

Per the BuzzFeed article:
An examination of the case by BuzzFeed News also reveals that some of those informants, acting under the direction of the FBI, played a far larger role than has previously been reported. Working in secret, they did more than just passively observe and report on the actions of the suspects. Instead, they had a hand in nearly every aspect of the alleged plot, starting with its inception. The extent of their involvement raises questions as to whether there would have even been a conspiracy without them.

 

[Sketcher]

Providing training and access to people to Fox (who said he couldn't do anything with less than 200 men) is not a good look.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Providing training and access to people to Fox (who said he couldn't do anything with less than 200 men) is not a good look.

Yeah, I would say if everything alleged in the articles is true, it goes beyond "regular entrapment" (which is still really bad and something the law enforcement community shouldn't be engaged in), and enters the realm of "entrapment with the potential to have some serious externalities"

Providing access, training, and hooking them up with the resources to help them manufacture their own weapons could've gone south in a myriad of different ways.

They already knew they were dealing with angry, unstable people who had the propensity to act irrationally...they had no guarantee that one of those guys wouldn't have "gone rogue" and used some of that new found training and weaponry to attack an auxiliary target. What if one of those guys had decided one night in a drunken stupor that "I'm not going to wait for the big day...I'm just gonna hit the mayors office down the street tomorrow"?

 

[FireDragon76]

I don't buy the entrapment defense. That's a cop-out on the militia's part, and they've probably be coached to say that by a lawyer.

Besides, how morally depraved would a person have to be to go along with such hypothetical "entrapment"? That defense doesn't add up.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

I don't buy the entrapment defense. That's a cop-out on the militia's part, and they've probably be coached to say that by a lawyer.

Besides, how morally depraved would a person have to be to go along with such hypothetical "entrapment"? That defense doesn't add up.

It doesn't matter whether they're merely using it as an excuse or not...

If the FBI did have the level of involvement that the articles are alleging, then they crossed a line they're not supposed to be crossing.

An examination of the case by BuzzFeed News also reveals that some of those informants, acting under the direction of the FBI, played a far larger role than has previously been reported. Working in secret, they did more than just passively observe and report on the actions of the suspects. Instead, they had a hand in nearly every aspect of the alleged plot, starting with its inception. The extent of their involvement raises questions as to whether there would have even been a conspiracy without them.

In a nutshell, if what the articles I linked were saying is true, that means that the FBI (and informants working for the FBI) hatched the plan under the supervision and direction of the FBI, and then arrested the other guys when they agreed to go along with it.


You can imagine, if I worked for a police department, and there was a local street gang that we were suspicious of, but didn't have anything concrete on them...if I send informants and undercover officers in to infiltrate the group, and those infiltrators (at my direction) said "Hey guys, we should rob a bank to make some money $$$...I can get us hooked up with guns, a getaway vehicle and already have the plan mapped out" ...and then when they agree to go along with it, I swoop in and arrest them all for "conspiracy to commit armed robbery"

It doesn't take away from the fact that the people who went along with it are immoral...but it does raise the question, would they have even thought to try it had they not been coaxed into thinking it was a good idea by outside actors.


As noted in my other posts (and the one article from The Hill makes reference to it), this wouldn't be the first time the FBI engaged in this sort of tactic, and having a case acquitted as a result.

 

[HTacianas]

I don't buy the entrapment defense. That's a cop-out on the militia's part, and they've probably be coached to say that by a lawyer.

Besides, how morally depraved would a person have to be to go along with such hypothetical "entrapment"? That defense doesn't add up.

A person would have to be quite depraved to go along with it, but this is looking more and more like a small group of very depraved people who were entrapped by an even larger group of informants.