President Trump said Wednesday he will “take a look at” pardoning a group of men charged with planning to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, calling the case — which has resulted in two convictions and two guilty pleas — a “railroad job.”
“I will take a look at it. It’s been brought to my attention,” Mr. Trump said at a swearing-in ceremony for U.S. Attorney in D.C. Jeanine Pirro.
“I did watch the trial. It looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job, I’ll be honest with you,” Mr. Trump said. “It looked to me like some people said some stupid things.”
The Justice Department’s new pardon attorney Ed Martin said last week he will take a “hard look” at the Whitmer kidnapping case.
During Mr. Trump’s first term in 2020, federal prosecutors charged six people with conspiring to kidnap Whitmer, a Democrat who was facing backlash at the time for the state’s COVID-19 policies. The indictment described the men — some of whom were linked to a militia group — allegedly conducting surveillance of Whitmer’s vacation home and hatching a kidnapping plot that involved blowing up a nearby bridge. Whitmer was not harmed.
Two of the six defendants — Barry Croft and Adam Fox — were found guilty at trial and sentenced to over a decade in prison, after a hung jury at an initial trial. Two others pleaded guilty and were also sentenced to prison terms, and two were acquitted at trial.
Defense attorneys argued the men weren’t serious about the plot, casting them as wannabees who enjoyed “playing army” and ranting about the government but were not going to act on their rhetoric. They also argued the men were entrapped by undercover FBI agents and confidential informants. A federal appeals court reviewed Croft and Fox’s claims that the judge prevented them from mounting an effective entrapment defense, but upheld their convictions last month.
Several other people were convicted in state court of links to the plot against Whitmer, often raising similar entrapment defenses. Mr. Trump is not able to pardon people on state charges.
Mr. Trump clashed with Whitmer in 2020, tweeting “LIBERATE MICHIGAN” amid protests in the state for Whitmer’s policies to restrict the spread of COVID-19. After the federal kidnapping arrests, Mr. Trump lashed out at Whitmer for not thanking him.
Mr. Trump has used his pardon power extensively in his second term, drawing scrutiny for pardoning almost everybody convicted in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
