During his self-defense testimony on Thursday, one of the three men accused of aiding a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Whitmer pretended to be a terrified passenger on a daytime trip to see her vacation home in northern Michigan.
Three men accused of aiding a kidnapping plot of Michigan Governor Whitmer in Michigan allegedly pretended to be terrified passengers on a day trip to her vacation home in northern Michigan. (Photo: ABC News)
According to Star Tribune, William and Michael Null, who are identical twins, and Eric Molitor are accused of financing terrorism.
When Adam Fox, the mastermind of the scheme, urged Molitor to visit Antrim County in August 2020 to look at a “high-profile vacation home,” Molitor claimed Michigan Governor Whitmer’s name was not mentioned.
Molitor was in a pickup truck with Fox and an FBI informant when they twice drove by the property, but he claimed he became nervous when he realized it was the governor’s lakeside house in Elk Rapids.
What should I say? What do I do? What shall I do? How can I escape this predicament? I don’t have training, Molitor admitted to the jury. I have no backup. I have nothing.
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Only one other defendant has testified in any of Molitor’s four trials in state and federal courts, making his decision to do so a rare one. He was exonerated.
It is alleged that Molitor and the Nulls supported the plot’s masterminds, Fox and Barry Croft Jr. They expressed outrage over COVID-19 restrictions in social media posts and text messages, but evidence also showed that they held anti-government beliefs before the pandemic and were preparing for a civil war.
The 39-year-old Molitor claimed his worry about the trip to Michigan Governor Whitmer’s house subsided, so he decided not to call the police.
It didn’t seem serious, she said. … Just because they weren’t organized caused my perception of the danger to decrease. In his testimony, Molitor said, “It was two guys, one of them just talking crazy. “My danger level significantly decreased.”
He claimed that despite supporting Democrats Michigan Governor Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel in 2018, he had changed his mind about them. At the height of COVID-19, according to Molitor, lockdowns and mask regulations were overly strict.
”Voting her out was my best way of taking care of that,” he said of Michigan Governor Whitmer ”Did I have thoughts of hurting people? No. I did back the idea of a civilian arrest if that was possible.”
A few days later, the Null brothers took part in a separate night ride to see Michigan Governor Whitmer’s property, and all three men went through paramilitary training.
For months, undercover FBI agents and informants made recordings and gathered evidence inside the group. Michigan Governor Whitmer suffered no physical harm.
Just one month before the November 2020 elections, fourteen men were detained. In state or federal court, nine people have been found guilty, while two have been exonerated.
Michigan Governor Whitmer blamed then-President Donald Trump for the plot’s failure, saying that he had given “comfort to those who spread fear, hatred, and division.” Trump referred to the kidnapping scheme as a “fake deal” in August 2022.
