(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Last March, Headline USA published an investigation into undercover FBI agent “Red,” who fomented a left-wing plot to assassinate Colorado’s attorney general in August 2020, before participating in the conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer a month later.
At the time, this publication used circumstantial evidence to infer that the FBI agent “Red” in Colorado and Michigan was the same person: special agent Timothy Bates. In both cases, “Red” is described as 6 feet 2 inches tall with facial hair and a tattoo sleeve going down his arm. “Red” was also introduced to Black Lives Matter activists and militiamen alike as an ex-military, outlaw munitions expert. And moreover, “Red” took each of his targets on surveillance car rides.
This week, The Intercept published a bombshell article on the Whitmer kidnap plot that confirmed Headline USA’s March 29, 2023, report. The Intercept’s story largely focused on the criminal FBI informant Stephen Robeson and how he fomented the Whitmer kidnap plot, but the article also confirmed that Bates was indeed the same agent to infiltrate BLM and the Midwest militia movement during the summer of 2020.
According to The Intercept, Red was introduced to the Midwest militia scene during a Sept. 12, 2020, training exercise in Luther, Michigan.
“’Red’ was in fact Timothy Bates, an undercover FBI agent who identifies himself in government recordings as ‘UCE 7775,’ referring to his FBI undercover employee number. Just three weeks earlier, Bates had been in Denver, where he encouraged political violence. In Colorado, an FBI informant named Mickey Windecker introduced Bates to a racial justice activist who expressed interest in assassinating the state’s attorney general — a plot that, like the one targeting Virginia’s governor, ultimately fizzled,” The Intercept explained.
“Bates and Chappel, both Army veterans, led a close-quarters combat training for the Wolverine Watchmen. Bates also told the group gathered in Michigan that he could supply explosives. The group’s rough plan to kidnap Whitmer at her vacation home involved possibly blowing up a nearby bridge to slow rescue efforts.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
