President Trump revealed he is considering pardoning the men convicted of plotting to kidnap Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, likening their trial to “a railroad job.”
“I’m going to take a look at it,” Trump told reporters Wednesday when asked if he would consider pardoning ringleaders Barry Croft Jr. and Adam Fox, who were sentenced in 2022 to more than 19 years and 16 years, respectively.
“It’s been brought to my attention. I did watch the trial. It looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job, I’ll be honest with you,” the president said of the conviction of the Wolverine Watchmen.
“It looked to me like some people said some stupid things. You know, they were drinking and I think they said stupid things.”
Trump said “a lot of people” from “both sides” have asked him about pardoning the conspirators.
Trump’s comments come after Department of Justice’s new pardon attorney, Ed Martin Jr., said on “The Breanna Morello Show” last week that he was taking a “hard look” at the Croft and Fox’s cases, and likened them to hundreds of Jan. 6 convicts the president pardoned on his first day in office.
Fourteen people were initially charged in the plot to kidnap the Democratic governor from her Elk Rapids vacation cottage in 2020, according to The Detroit Free Press.
The conspirators — part of a paramilitary group known as the Wolverine Watchmen — were enraged over Whitmer’s statewide COVID-19 restrictions as well as what they saw as threats to legal gun ownership.
The crew had staked out the Democratic governor’s home and conducted field training exercises to practice combat tactics to prepare for the ambush, prosecutors said. They were arrested after four of them met with an undercover FBI agent to buy $4,000 in explosives for the scheme.
Prosecutors maintained that their ramblings were proof that they wanted a civil war.
Croft, a truck driver from Delaware, and Fox, of Michigan, were convicted on charges of kidnapping conspiracy, as well as conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.
Ty Garbin — who cooperated with prosecutors at trial — received a reduced 2½-year sentence for his involvement in the plot, while Kaleb Franks was sentenced to four years behind bars.
Whitmer, who’s reportedly among Democrats eyeing a presidential run in 2028, has been accused of “cozying up” to Trump since he retook the White House after she spoke at a celebratory event to mark his first 100 days in office.
Weeks earlier, the governor hid her face behind a stack of binders while walking by photographers in the Oval Office, where she was waiting for Trump to meet with her to discuss the future of an air base.
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