{"id":74919,"date":"2021-07-21T18:54:42","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T22:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=74919"},"modified":"2021-07-21T18:54:42","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T22:54:42","slug":"the-fbi-has-morphed-into-a-political-entrapment-and-organized-crime-syndicate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=74919","title":{"rendered":"The FBI has morphed into a political entrapment and organized crime syndicate."},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><strong>Whitmer Kidnapping Defendants Claim Entrapment After 12 FBI Informants Involved In Plot<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->ZeroHedge.com<\/p>\n<p>At least\u00a0<strong>a dozen FBI informants<\/strong>\u00a0infiltrated an anti-government group of aspiring extremists, and were involved in\u00a0<strong>virtually every aspect of a plan to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer<\/strong>, according to<em>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/kenbensinger\/michigan-kidnapping-gretchen-whitmer-fbi-informant\">BuzzFeed<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Some of those informants, acting under the direction of the FBI,\u00a0<strong>played a far larger role than has previously been reported,<\/strong>&#8221; according to the report.<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfX0%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1417583184573775881&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fwhitmer-kidnapping-defendants-claim-entrapment-after-12-fbi-informants-involved-plot&amp;sessionId=4189ddbe7f98138b17775097f0810d03c070b493&amp;siteScreenName=zerohedge&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=82e1070%3A1619632193066&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1417583184573775881\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class=\"Advert_desktop__1J5vD Advert_tablet__3QEBr Advert_mobile__1rlLc Advert_placement__1I4yb Advert_align__N0_fw\"><\/div>\n<p>One &#8216;informant,&#8217; an Iraq war veteran, &#8220;became so deeply enmeshed in a Michigan militant group&#8221; that\u00a0<strong>he rose to second-in-command<\/strong>\u00a0&#8211; telling members of the group to meet with other potential suspects<strong>, and even footing the bill to transport members to meetings<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images\" role=\"group\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/adam%20fox1.jpg?itok=Osvcx6x4\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"391\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"98c0790e-bb16-4f0b-82e0-cbbf703cb1f1\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" \/><figcaption><em>Matthew Dae Smith \/ Lansing State Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Another FBI &#8216;informant&#8217;\u00a0<strong>advised the militia group on where they should plant explosives, and offered to procure as many as were needed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201c<strong>Everybody down with what\u2019s going on?<\/strong>\u201d an Iraq War veteran in the group\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/21011383-us-v-fox-complaint#document\/p14\/a2046287\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">demanded to know<\/a>\u00a0when they ended their recon mission, well past midnight, at a campsite where they were all staying.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u201cIf you\u2019re not down with the thought of kidnapping,\u201d someone else replied, \u201cdon\u2019t sit here.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>The men planned for all kinds of obstacles, but there was one they didn\u2019t anticipate: The FBI had been listening in all along.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>For six months, the Iraq War vet had been wearing a wire, gathering hundreds of hours of recordings.<\/strong>\u00a0He wasn\u2019t the only one.\u00a0<strong>A biker who had traveled from Wisconsin to join the group was another informant.<\/strong>\u00a0The man who\u2019d advised them on where to put the explosives \u2014 and offered to get them as much as the task would require \u2014 was an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/21011385-20-1013-volume-i-fox-et-al-preliminary-hearing-e-filed-1#document\/p57\/a2046293\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">undercover FBI agent<\/a>. So was a man in one of the other cars who said little and went by the name\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/21011385-20-1013-volume-i-fox-et-al-preliminary-hearing-e-filed-1#document\/p124\/a2046292\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mark<\/a>. &#8211;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/kenbensinger\/michigan-kidnapping-gretchen-whitmer-fbi-informant\">BuzzFeed<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Three weeks later, over a dozen men were arrested by federal and state agents in what one federal prosecutor described as a &#8220;deeply disturbing&#8221; criminal conspiracy hatched over several months via secret meetings, encrypted chats, and paramilitary-style training exercises.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"caption caption-img inline-images image-style-inline-images\" role=\"group\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/bf%201.jpg?itok=a89pZDFX\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"328\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"0182132d-e8a9-4e94-b034-d05c67f81cdf\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" \/><figcaption><em>Exhibits from hearings in the case include screenshots of chats and flyers handed out by the Wolverine Watchmen. A boogaloo boy (top right) holds a rifle at a rally at the Michigan state Capitol in Lansing in October 2020.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In total,\u00a0<strong>14 men were charged last year in the alleged plot to kidnap Whitmer<\/strong>. They&#8217;ve all pleaded not-guilty, and say the FBI\u00a0<strong>set them up<\/strong>. They claim their talk never rose beyond the level of fantasy, and that they never intended to harm Whitmer or anyone else. The defendants claim there was\u00a0<strong>no conspiracy to kidnap the governor<\/strong>\u00a0&#8211; and instead say\u00a0<strong>they were targeted because of their political views<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"Advert_tablet__3QEBr Advert_mobile__1rlLc Advert_placement__1I4yb Advert_align__N0_fw\"><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><em>Some describe the case as a premeditated campaign by the government to undermine the Patriot movement, an ideology based on fealty to the Second Amendment and the conviction that the government has violated the Constitution and is therefore illegitimate.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Last week, the lawyer for one defendant filed a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/21011397-caserta-motion-to-compel-discovery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">motion<\/a>\u00a0that included texts from an FBI agent to a key informant, the Iraq War veteran, directing him to draw specific people into the conspiracy \u2014 potential evidence of entrapment that he said the government \u201cinadvertently disclosed.\u201d\u00a0<strong>He is requesting all texts sent and received by that informant, and other attorneys are now considering motions that accuse the government of intentionally withholding evidence of entrapment.\u00a0<\/strong><em>-BuzzFeed<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-1\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfX0%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1417914788928233475&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fwhitmer-kidnapping-defendants-claim-entrapment-after-12-fbi-informants-involved-plot&amp;sessionId=4189ddbe7f98138b17775097f0810d03c070b493&amp;siteScreenName=zerohedge&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=82e1070%3A1619632193066&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1417914788928233475\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>In total, the prosecution gathered some 400,000 text messages, thousands of social media posts, and over\u00a0<strong>1,300 hours of recordings<\/strong>\u00a0&#8211; including &#8220;audio or video from all three vehicles it alleges traveled to Birch Lake on the night of Sept. 12.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-2\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-2&amp;features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfX0%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1417947601857654790&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fwhitmer-kidnapping-defendants-claim-entrapment-after-12-fbi-informants-involved-plot&amp;sessionId=4189ddbe7f98138b17775097f0810d03c070b493&amp;siteScreenName=zerohedge&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=82e1070%3A1619632193066&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1417947601857654790\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><strong>In a curious twist<\/strong>, one of the lead federal prosecutors on the case, Gregory Townsend, was\u00a0<strong>reassigned in May<\/strong>\u00a0pending an audit by the Attorney General into whether he had withheld key evidence about deals cut with informants during an unrelated murder and arson trial in Oakland County in 2000. On Sunday, meanwhile,\u00a0<strong>one of the lead FBI agents in the case, Richard J. Trask,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/21012056-trask-criminal-charge\">was charged<\/a>\u00a0in another unrelated matter<\/strong>\u00a0in Kalamazoo over an alleged\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/districtindex.kalcounty.com\/ROACase.aspx?CASE=211147FY++&amp;CRTNO=0800&amp;FILENAME=D071910439&amp;PFIX=D&amp;PTY=D01\"><strong>assault<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0with intent to do great bodily harm.<\/p>\n<div class=\"Advert_tablet__3QEBr Advert_mobile__1rlLc Advert_placement__1I4yb Advert_align__N0_fw\"><\/div>\n<p>The FBI&#8217;s use of (often paid) informants dates back to at least the late 1950s, when they employed individuals to infiltrate dissident groups such as the Black Panthers, the Democrat-founded Ku Klux Klan, and Martin Luther King Jr. The strategy has had a &#8216;decidedly mixed record,&#8217; with some informants helping to bust open cases that avoided violent acts, while others\u00a0<strong>have coerced innocent people, falsified evidence, &#8216;and even committed murder while working for the FBI.&#8217;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Read the rest of the report\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/kenbensinger\/michigan-kidnapping-gretchen-whitmer-fbi-informant\"><strong>here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\nhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/whitmer-kidnapping-defendants-claim-entrapment-after-12-fbi-informants-involved-plot<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whitmer Kidnapping Defendants Claim Entrapment After 12 FBI Informants Involved In Plot<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74919\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}