Trial of 4 men accused of an elaborate plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Whitmer begins

• The federal trial of four men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan's democratic governor begins.
• Prosecutors say the four men took methodical steps to prepare for the kidnapping, but were stopped by law enforcement.

Jury selection in the federal trial of four men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer begins today in Grand Rapids.

Prosecutors say during the peak of the COVID-19 lockdown, Adam Fox, Brandon Caserta, Barry Croft Jr. and Daniel Harris were among six men who elaborately planned and trained to kidnap Whitmer from her home in retaliation for her stay-at-home orders.

An FBI affidavit said the men reached out to members of an armed right-wing militia in Michigan to carry out their plan. The group went as far as monitoring the governor's vacation home, holding gun drills in the woods, and building bombs.

The FBI thwarted the plot after a member of the militia told agents about the plan. On June 14, 2020, the source participated in "a consensually recorded" call with Fox who said he needed 200 men to storm the Capitol building in Lansing, Michigan, and take hostages, including the governor, according to the affidavit.

In the call, Fox said they would try to execute the plan before the presidential elections in 2021, and that they would try the governor for treason.

At a probable cause hearing after their arrests, attorneys for Adam Fox, Ty Garbin, and Brandon Caserta tried to paint their clients as people with anti-government beliefs who liked to "play guns in the woods." They unsuccessfully argued that the men didn't have a formal plan to abduct the governor.

US Attorney Prosecutor Nils Kessler argued at the time that the plan was more than just talk, as the men met up for drills.

"It doesn't have to be a good plan to be dangerous," Kessler said at the October 2020 hearing. "These people got caught because they're amateurs and they didn't think it through. That doesn't mean it isn't dangerous."

Two other men who were initially charged in the plot — Kaleb Franks and Ty Garbin — pleaded guilty ahead of the trial. Garbin is now serving a six-year prison sentence.

The federal trial is expected to last more than a month, the Associated Press reported.