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Two key witnesses testified Wednesday in the retrial of two men charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020.
Ty Garbin of Hartland Township, and Kaleb Franks of Waterford, said the defendants were fully onboard with the plan and eager to implement it. Garbin and Franks, who are considered vital for the government’s case, pleaded guilty following their arrest and agreed to testify for the prosecution.
Adam Fox, 39, and Barry Croft Jr., 46, are being tried for a second time on conspiracy charges after a jury in April couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict in their cases, but acquitted two other men.
Garbin told jurors in a Grand Rapids federal court Wednesday that he didn’t recall that two FBI informants who trained with the group were responsible for proposing that Whitmer should be kidnapped.
The role of the informants became a key issue in the first trial, with defense attorneys arguing that the defendants had no real intention to kidnap Whitmer and had been entrapped.
Conflict arose on Wednesday between defense counsel and the judge when the lawyers were limited to 25 minutes each for cross-examination of Franks. One of the attorneys, Joshua Blanchard, called the limitation unconstitutional considering that Fox and Croft face possible life sentences if convicted.
“The court has been interjecting in the defense case,” said Blanchard. “It has not been interjecting in the government’s case. And it’s creating a perception, I think, among the jurors that the court has a preference for how this case ends.”
U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker, who complained last week about the trial’s pace, defended his decision, saying there was no need for certain questions to be “teed up over and over again.”
Garbin and Franks recounted again how they trained with Fox, Croft and others in a remote area, including in a so-called “shoot house” used to simulate the kidnapping. They also testified how the group traveled to Whitmer’s vacation home in Elk Rapids at night to see a bridge that they planned to blow up so as to slow up police response during an attack.
Both men said they freely joined the plot and that neither undercover FBI agents nor informants convinced them to do so.
Garbin also testified that nearly six months before they were arrested, he and Fox were at a gun rights rally at the Michigan Capitol in June 2020.
“Adam Fox had mentioned storming the Capitol building and arresting elected officials and holding them on trial for their crimes and treason,” said Garbin, adding that Whitmer was at the top of the list.
“Hang her on public TV for the world to see,” he testified.
Both Garbin and Franks were questioned by defense attorneys about their guilty pleas, getting them to acknowledge that they were seeking a lighter sentence.
Garbin was previously sentenced to six years in prison but could get a further reduction for his cooperation. However, both men insisted that no one asked them to lie and that their testimony was truthful.
Testimony is continuing Thursday.
Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and Twitter.
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Former Trump officials say his claim of 'standing order' to declassify documents is bogus: report
August 18, 2022
In the wake of the FBI's raid on Mar-a-Lago in search of classified documents allegedly taken from the White House by Donald Trump at the end of his term, the former president and his allies have claimed he had a "standing order" to declassify documents he took. But according to 18 former top Trump administration officials speaking to CNN, the claim is false.
"Nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given," said John Kelly, who served as Trump's chief of staff. "And I can't imagine anyone that worked at the White House after me that would have simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed that order to go forward without dying in the ditch trying to stop it."
Mick Mulvaney, who succeeded Kelly as acting White House chief of staff, told CNN he was "not aware of a general standing order."
According to CNN, one official after another rejected the claim of a standing order.
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"Total nonsense," one senior White House official said. "If that's true, where is the order with his signature on it? If that were the case, there would have been tremendous pushback from the Intel Community and DoD, which would almost certainly have become known to Intel and Armed Services Committees on the Hill."
"Trump and his allies have made a wide range of claims about declassification in the days after the FBI's August 8 search of Mar-a-Lago, which resulted in federal agents seizing 11 sets of classified documents -- including some marked with the highest levels of classification," CNN's report stated. "On his social media platform Truth Social last week, Trump made the sweeping claim that the documents in the boxes seized by the FBI at his home were 'all declassified.'"
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Republicans ‘extremely unavailable’ as they seek to dodge scrutiny: Washington Post editorial board
August 18, 2022
Republican candidates are seeking to shut the press out of events and voters are the ultimate losers, according to a Washington Post editorial published online on Thursday.
"More often than before, newsworthy gatherings are not announced ahead of time, and reporters find out they occurred only when pictures get posted to social media or a news release is sent out later. For traditional outlets, interviews with many candidates have become harder to secure. Some campaigns don’t even return calls or emails," the editorial board wrote. "These trends don’t just hinder media coverage. They also insulate would-be leaders from tough questions and thorny issues. Mostly, they hurt voters by leaving them less informed."
The editorial noted the "worst offenders" come from the Republican Party's MAGA wing.
"Sarah Palin, a former governor and vice-presidential nominee, announced no public events in Alaska between a rally that former president Donald Trump headlined for her in Anchorage on July 9 and the special election that took place Tuesday," the editorial board noted. "In Pennsylvania, gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano’s campaign has physically barred reporters from entering events. Other candidates, such as Georgia U.S. Senate hopeful Herschel Walker, have also been extremely unavailable."
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The newspaper noted a shocking situation with Charlie Kirk's far-right Turning Point Action.
"On Friday, Mr. DeSantis is to travel to Ohio to stump with Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance," the editorial board reported. "The organizers of the event, a conservative nonprofit called Turning Point Action, are requiring that journalists applying for credentials agree to give organizers access to any footage they record and be willing to answer questions about how it will be used. Journalists who attend are restricted from recording speakers, staff and attendees who do not wish to be filmed and from going into certain areas of the event. They also are barred from recording anything displayed on projection screens."
The editorial noted "understandable outrage" from Ohio television stations.
"Media organizations record these events for the benefit of voters, as well as for history. They should be allowed to do their jobs unencumbered," the editorial urged.
Read the full editorial.
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