(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says President Donald Trump would be going back on his word to her if he pardoned two men whom multiple courts have found were baited by the FBI into a phony plot to kidnap her in 2020.
Whitmer, a Democrat, told Michigan Public Radio on Thursday that Trump asked her about a month ago how she would feel if he pardoned the two men.
“I said, ‘I think it would be the wrong decision,’” Whitmer recounted. “I would oppose it and he said, ‘OK, I’ll drop it.’”
Whitmer, a possible 2028 presidential candidate, recounted the conversation one day after Trump said he was considering a pardon for the men, saying, “I will take a look at it. It’s been brought to my attention.”
Gov. Whitmer conspired with the FBI to frame a group of men for a fake kidnapping plot. Whitmer picked the date and time of the FBI-planned recon of her vacation cottage the guys were duped into going on under false pretense. This is entrapment and it's illegal. Half of these men… https://t.co/ChgFYt50hk
— Radix Verum ☦︎ (@NotRadix) May 30, 2025
The Republican president said he followed the men’s trial and “it looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job.” He said the men “were drinking and I think they said stupid things.”
The U.S. Justice Department’s new pardon attorney also said this month he would take a “hard look” at pardoning Barry Croft Jr. and Adam Fox.
Croft, 49, and Fox, 42, were portrayed as leaders of the kidnapping scheme. After an initial mistrial in early 2022, they were convicted of conspiracy in federal court later that year. Croft, a trucker from Delaware, was also found guilty of a weapons charge.
Croft and Fox were convicted despite evidence that that at least 12 undercover FBI informants and agents pushed them to formulate a plan against Whitmer—much of which they were never able to present to a jury. The Sixth Circuit Appeals Court even admitted earlier that the FBI fomented the Whitmer plot, but justices upheld the convictions anyway.
“The Defendants are correct that the government encouraged them to settle on a plan,” the Sixth Circuit ruled on April 1, referring to the informants and undercover agents who repeatedly encouraged militias to engage in criminality throughout 2020. “But as the government points out in its supplemental briefing, the jury heard the substance of most of these statements and yet still convicted both Fox and Croft.”
This is batshit crazy:
"The defendants are correct that the government encouraged them to settle on a plan … but a jury of sub-literates convicted them so we're affirming convictions anyway"
OK I'm paraphrasing the last part a little, but still. This is the American justice… https://t.co/vBeReElDDk pic.twitter.com/0GopBBdDth— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) April 1, 2025
Croft is serving nearly 20 years in prison, while Fox, a Grand Rapids man, is serving a 16-year term. They are being held at a prison in Colorado — the most secure in the federal system.
Meanwhile, state defendants Paul Bellar, Joe Morrison and Pete Musico are also serving seven-year, 10-year and 12-year prison sentences, respectively, due to state charges stemming from the Whitmer case.
Like with the federal case, the state defendants were convicted despite a judge acknowledging that the FBI fomented the plot to kidnap Whitmer. In the state case, Michigan Judge Thomas Wilson acknowledged in January that the III%er militias involved in the Whitmer kidnap plot were created by the FBI.
“The ‘3%’groups were established across the country and were created by the FBI,” Judge Wilson said. “The FBI used assets from other 3% groups in forming the Michigan 3% group.”
But even though the defendants weren’t allowed to present that evidence at their trial, they were able to do so during a pretrial entrapment hearing in 2022, the judge said. Their arguments were unsuccessful at the time, and Judge Wilson declined to change his mind in his recent decision, which was made on Jan. 24.
Whitmer was never physically harmed. Newly appointed DOJ pardon attorney Ed Martin Jr. called it a “fed-napping” plot last week on “The Breanna Morello Show.”, not a kidnapping plot, apparently referring to the numerous undercover FBI agents and informants who had infiltrated the group and built the case.
The White House did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Whitmer’s remarks.
Whitmer and Trump clashed publicly during his first term, with Trump referring to her as “that woman from Michigan.” She has blamed Trump for the political anger that motivated the plot to kidnap her right before the 2020 presidential election. That year, she also appeared on a television interview with “8645” written in the background—an apparent dog whistle to assassinate Trump. Former FBI Director James Comey is currently under investigation for posting a similar message.
Whitmer has faced scrutiny from some Democrats for taking a more collaborative approach to the Trump administration in his second term.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat who has criticized Whitmer for working with and appearing with Trump, said releasing the convicted men is “no laughing matter.”
The reward you get for cozying up to Trump is him threatening to pardon the terrorists who plotted to kidnap and murder you.
These criminals are a threat to public safety and law enforcement. Releasing them is no laughing matter. https://t.co/cJt7L5zc7u
— Dana Nessel (@dananessel) May 30, 2025
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
