Michigan “Whitmer Kidnapping” Plot Trial: Closing Arguments
April 1, 2022 — After several weeks of trial in the US vs. Fox, et al aka the Michigan “Whitmer Kidnapping Plot,” the case is now in its terminal stages, as both sides began closing arguments this morning. The case is one of the most controversial “domestic terror” investigations of the decade, with the government alleging a wide-ranging conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer from her lake house, with the use of explosives to prevent law enforcement response.
On the defense side, many questions have been made about the prolific use of government informants and the conduct, or misconduct of the lead FBI handling agents. They claim the government was involved in every aspect of the so-called plot and that without the government’s intervention, some of the members of the Wolverine Watchmen militia never would have met.
The case is closely linked with the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot cases, as the Department of Justice has repeatedly sought to link the two in Court documents and at trial. Federal prosecutors have sought to portray the case as a “precursor” to January 6. Many of the prosecutors of the January 6 cases have pointed to the Michigan “plot” as an example of so-called “right wing extremism.” To get caught up on the trial, you can refer to my prior reporting on the case.
Closing Arguments
U. S. District Judge Robert Jonker this morning went over lengthy jury instructions and then Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler began his closing arguments. He walked through the governments narrative of the case for about an hour. “You can do pretty much anything you want in America except plan to ‘kidnap, kill or blow up’ a governor.”
Kessler related the various meetings and field training exercises involved and he laid out the trips that group made to “organize the kidnapping.” Mr. Kessler defended the use of numerous informants in the case, and reminded the jury that there is no limit to the number of informants that can be used in an investigation. He also raised the issue of the encrypted chats, but those were created by the lead informant in the case, Dan Chappel.
Mr. Kessler went on to defend the totally absurd, unrealistic and unrealizable “plan,” nearly every event discussed by Kessler was organized and financed by the FBI. He then claimed that Dan Chappel and Steve Robeson, the two main informants, did not provoke behavior. That claim is contradicted by the evidence though as well as some of the testimony of the government’s own witnesses. AUSA Kessler said that it is okay for the government to create opportunities for people to commit a crime, and pay for things. He claimed it is not “coercion” or “inducement” and admits that FBI informant Robeson hosted the first training session. Kessler claimed that if defendants were already willing to commit the crime, it doesn’t matter if the government then made it easier for them, and gave them the opportunity and helped participate with them.
Mr. Kessler than went on to defend why the FBI brought in an undercover agent in September of 2020 — “Red,” who pretended to be an “explosives expert.” “Red” showed some members of the group videos of him exploding things, including an SUV. All of these videos were created and produced by the FBI. They then took the defendants on a “surveillance trip” of Whitmer’s cottage.
Mr. Kessler, speaking about Barry Croft, said that he had an obscure podcast and that the Three Percenters are an “extremist” organization wanting to overthrow the government and incite a second revolution. He linked “1776” with “extremism” for some reason. He claimed the defendants wanted to “kick off the Boogaloo,” explaining that meant they were “predisposed to commit crimes.” AUSA Kessler brought up past crimes the defendants have committed as further proof of their so-called predisposition.
Kessler then argued that Brandon Caserta said the true purpose of the Second Amendment was to shoot “agents” of the government. He said Caserta had an anarchy flag in his room. “Marinating in weird conspiracy theories, talking about adrenochrome and Zionist international banking,” so you know, he was predisposed. Kessler claimed Defendant Daniel Harris wanted to get an explosive and it doesn’t matter if he actually did or not.
Next up was attorney Christopher Gibbons on behalf of Adam Fox. He said Adam Fox is innocent and will rely on the presumption of innocence, given an overview of things at work in this case and evidence we heard applied. The conspiracy charges in this case all stem from the government and their agents.
Further, the plan came from Dan Chappel, Gibbons said. He was the informant who provided the majority of access to the Wolverine Watchmen. Dan Chappel admitted he was motivated, that he liked working with the FBI. He sent a text saying he was “building his resume” to Special Agent Chambers that Dan brought Watchman to meeting at Vac Shack – saying to Chambers “if you need it to happen I can make it happen.” That’s not access, that’s manipulation.
From Mr. Gibbon’s Closing:
Dan Chappel made everything happen. He started by manipulating and putting people together. Mostly existing on the internet, the WW is a group that hardly meet. Dan was instrumental in bringing Fox to a meeting in Munich with the Watchmen. Why did the government want Fox training with the Watchmen? Adam Fox as he existed prior to meeting the government (June 6 in Dublin, OH) was not a member of any active militia group in the spring of 2020. He is inexperienced with firearms. Dan Chappel testified he had to show Fox how to put aperture on a gun, how to clean and take it apart and make sure safety works on gun.”
Fox had no tactical training or experience – he wanted to please Dan and was eager to learn, he was looking for connections. He was financially disadvantaged, living in basement on vacuum repair shop. I think it’s pretty obvious it got a lot of people’s attention when he showed up at an event. The government quickly finds out Fox is a big talker – he never stops talking. He talks about tyrants, citizens arrests, storming the capitol, how government takes advantage of people. The talk was just talk. The only people moving or trying to make anything happen here were FBI Special Agent Jayson Chambers and Dan and the other assets working for the government.
What was going on with Adam Fox and how did that relate to what was going on with Chambers and Big Dan. Chambers tasked Big Dan with the following: get him in leadership position – why would he say that? It’s one thing to listen to a recording hear someone shooting their mouth off. Why would he say get him into leadership chat? Because Fox wasn’t capable of getting into WW leadership chat on his own. Dan had to call a member’s wife to arrange for Fox to be there. Why is it important for the government to get him there? Because they need to justify this TEI investigation. He says I’m going to run this case like it’s a TEI whether you give me permission or not. Without the government’s intervention, Fox doesn’t get into the WW. He is vulnerable, the perfect guy to use as a patsy. Put him in the leadership chat. He has no friends, he can’t get them himself.
Fox is not the leader the govt wants him to be, he never became the leader the government wants him to be. He didn’t have any skill sets. Dan was the leader of the group – the WW devolved, Paul Bellar left the group as did others. When Ty Garbin and Kaleb Frank didn’t want to continue with the WW, and wanted to create their own group, the “brick squad” they didn’t want Fox in the group and Dan couldn’t get him in it, but this is supposed to be the “leader?”
Garbin described him in July as “captain autism” to Big Dan. Text to the group that Adam is supposed to be in charge and everyone mocks him saying he looks like a special needs kid who shits his pants in public. Ty Garbin admits they lack any respect for Fox, but we are supposed to believe Fox is the leader and these guys are members of his “kill squad”? Harris didn’t see Fox as a leader any more than Garbin did. He wasn’t, he was a friend of Dan Chappel and that was only because the government paid Chappel to pretend to be his friend.
Then we have Steve Robeson, in case Dan’s manipulation wasn’t enough they needed another angle to get to Fox. Robeson creates a fake militia group. The government put into evidence the names of people who attended the meeting, it’s the same people and same show. Steve Robeson in charge of Wisconsin – president of national board for “3% Patriot Militia” a confederation of fake, federally created militia groups – get people in, get them fired up and turn on your tape recorders.
Jenny Plunk in charge of a chapter – also working for govt
Missouri – also working for govt
Delaware, Indiana – run by guys targeted by FBI
The Michigan chapter run by Adam Fox, all set up by the govt
These militia groups were created by the feds.
The interesting thing about that statement on July 3rd, Adam Fox didn’t have any men. He never really did. He was UCE Mark, one guy, an undercover FBI agent who gets title “warden of the north” – a position of some authority.
Sean Fix claimed to be a navy seal and finally heard testimony that Fix has no military experience whatsoever, so the people Fox brought into his fake militia were not serious people. Just a guy who likes to talk big.
Adam has these 2 guys in his group, works closely with WW through Dan Chappel. Chappel administered the oath to Fox and Fix on July 8.
There is much made about a back chat made – after meeting, SA Chambers had chance to listen to the audio from that day – 4 hours of audio – he decides I need to get something going here. He tells Dan, “got to get Adam focused”, why would you need to do that? You heard a snippet from that afternoon meeting, Fox called it brainstorming session. UCE Mark on July 3rd talking about storming the capitol and taking tyrants with a militia in Lansing. No one thought that was feasible or a good idea. That’s not what they wanted Adam to “focus” on. There is a number of ways to get people to focus, like contact and communicate with them EVERYDAY. Over a thousand times in 3 months – July, Aug, Sept. Think about that, its not just a thousand texts, its many more than that because there is a response to each.
You know what the govt didn’t show you? Anything about Dan’s private texts with Fox. Why didn’t they show you that? They claimed Dan didn’t really talk that much. Fox doesn’t have to show you anything, the burden of proof isn’t on him. Subtle twist – its all in the details. We know that on July 27 there was a 4 hour private meeting between Dan and Fox at the vac shack. There are 2 exhibits submitted with respect to that meeting. The government played 70 seconds from that meeting. A tiny clip out of context.
That was before a BBQ at Sean Fix’s house, Mark was there for 5 hours of surveillance – they only admit a 17 second clip from that entire time. How do we really know it was about Mackinaw island? UCE Mark, pretending to be his girlfriend on Facebook tells Fox he is holed up on Mackinaw island. 9 hours of surveillance audio in custody of FBI, we get less than a minute and a half of audio from that. We got a reference from big Dan about Black Hawks – helicopters.
How do we get people focused? We can re-direct them with different ideas. This isn’t the only thing Dan Chappel had to suggest to Fox and others. The government claims because they were so serious Dan had to divert them to de-escalate.
Divert them from what? Dan had other plans for Fox, he suggested a multi-state attack with all these fake militias the govt created with Robeson, suggested an “ambush” of the governors all these ideas came from Dan. “Blow up her cottage” if you don’t want to kill anybody or don’t want her to be there. Fox obviously didn’t want to kill anyone. This isn’t de-escalation. What on earth is going on? It happens twice, its not an accident. On July 27th and 29th.
The FBI suggested this to a room of 20 something people. Adam Fox was the least of all of these men, he didn’t have the skills or equipment but he had Dan’s love and affection. What if the other guys got jealous and wanted to impress Dan by carrying out his “ideas” of firing a shot into the governor’s house.
Kessler claims this wasn’t Dan’s ideas, he just went where people told him to go. Dan admitted under oath on Aug 9 he admitted the need to go north, map her house, blow up a bridge to stop law enforcement, just look at the record. No one has suggested this before that date. Dan admitted he set the date for the Aug 9th ride along with Fox and invited everyone to go.
On 18th of Aug, Chambers starts directing Dan to “bug people” about coming to this. Fox cant go on that date. The government wanted Fox to be there for the recon so they could claim he was the leader.
Chambers said “we should reschedule trip” so that Fox can be there. Chambers directs Dan “get as many to go” why does Dan need to get as many as possible to go? Isn’t this their plan, aren’t they hot to do this?
Chambers – tells Dan to discuss swinging by location one on the way back. That will make them look real guilty. Who is running the show?
Fox didn’t even know where the gov lived before this trip.
Let’s talk about the map. How do you plan this without a map? Fox holding a pan given to him by Dan, drinking a drink given to him by Dan, on paper given to him by Dan. Dan tells him what to write on the map. He testified to that. Adam is making the map because Dan directed him.
Dan takes the map to FBI HQ. These are “parlor tricks” this is how you rope someone into a conspiracy. No evidence Adam ever asked for the map back, never asked to share it, there was no purpose for this except to make him look guilty.
Show me, don’t tell me – show the evidence. How much marijuana does it take for you to start using your hat as a pair of binoculars?
This is a circumstance that should be discussed. This case is steeped in marijuana use. Fox was high most of the time. He smoked with Eric in the morning. Then we know they smoked at the tavern in the parking lot. Then they smoked again with Patricia a local gal. This is supposed to be a “recon” and “military mission” according to the govt.
Then he smokes more pot. Then they drive back to grand rapids and smokes more pot. When they get home, Dan asks Fox “hey man can I see your stuff” and what does Fox find in his stuff? Binoculars. wouldn’t you have brought them to your recon if this was serious?
These agents took advantage of Adam’s substance abuse issues. Crimes are not a joke, I don’t give people advice or ask them to make decisions when they are high and/or drunk. The government offered no evidence of what was discussed at that meeting besides 17 seconds. Hours are missing – what is the context?
We have very narrow windows into what really happened. I’ll give the government credit, if they hadn’t shared the text messages we wouldn’t have known this. They did the right thing when it came to these messages.
There is zero reason to believe Dan isn’t absolutely revered and trusted by Fox. What are we going to do Dan asks? When Fox responds they say “aha look” we got him. Dan admitted by private chat he sent to Adam – name the mission ill build it. Why would Adam need to name it? Wasn’t there already a “plot”? “Name the mission, ill build it.” To get him to say something that looks bad. Dan says “I’m just turning on that mission prep switch.
Dan Chappel saved Chris Kyle, a hero marine, he’s everything Fox wanted to be, that’s why Fox doesn’t distance himself from him. By the end of the summer all his friends are federal agents. He had no friends before. These guys were the only friends he had and he didn’t want to disappoint them.
He didn’t want to let down Alisa Marie – who comforted him when his girlfriend left him. They has a girl catfishing Fox, who sent the map, etc. Who is enthusiastic about the bomb? Steve Robeson. Adam talking about “bakers” was a fantasy.
Dan had to text Steve to track down Adam so they could do the recon, this is like herding cats. They are trying to get people to go, trying to get everyone together – UCE Red tells Dan to give everyone radios. They claim Adam is the leader and is in charge but he has no idea about radios, didn’t tell anyone to get them didn’t know how to use them. What’s the point recording this, and filing with the tape if your not going to play it? Why haven’t we seen the surveillance from the recon? The government has been able to play anything they want, little clips out of context. Why wont they let us see the full videos.
Why did Dan lie about who he works for? He was a truck driver, he worked for a company that had a contract w the post office, he wanted to look like he was above the defendants and not a working man. How is being an informant building his resume? Why don’t they play the tape? Why show you something that never happened? Why on earth would you bring in an exhibit of something that didn’t happen, but you wanted to happen. They did it twice. You saw the video w Jayson Chambers, Dan and Special Agent Impola parked in the governor’s driveway – that’s scary, that’s personal that’s creepy. They didn’t do that. They called it a “reenactment” – you cannot reenact what didn’t happen.
Adam Fox was LARPing, it wasn’t even possible to do. There is a complete lack of actual criminal intent. Things don’t need to make sense if you don’t actually plan on carrying it out. Fox said he was LARPing. That is why the plan was so outrageous. Just like Sean Fix was pretending to be a navy seal. I can say “I hate the government and someone else can say I hate the government. Did we just enter into a conspiracy to hate the government?
The government claims Adam Fox bought a WMD – no money is exchanged, no hands are shaken? Why don’t we just listen to the meeting? Why do we have to take someone’s word for it? They have the tapes. Why not just play it, its probably only 20 minutes. Adam doesn’t text anyone saying we need to get the money together for this bomb. They were told they were going to get “free gear” and didn’t bring any money. Even the guys who flipped and took plea deals testified to that. Dan was the one who contacted Red, not Dan. Dan picks everyone up in his truck. Who is the real leader here?
Adam promised to bring $400-500 for Red. He tells big Dan ill try to put that money in on the 7th. He has $276 bucks in his pocket, according to the gov’t. he brought enough money to get gear from Red and to buy dinner and drinks. He didn’t want the bomb, that’s why he didn’t bring the money.
Closing arguments for Julia Kelly – attorney for Daniel Harris:
Evidence introduced from his wallet day of arrest – he is only 24 years old, had valid drivers license. He is a veteran. You see his card here and photograph, kind of a goofy kid which he friends told you. He joined the marine corp. at 17. He received an honorable discharge, he has a 90 % disability, the government questioned his disability. Dan claims he was disabled as well, but they did not question Dan’s disability. His nickname in military was “beaker” he took notes during his service. He kept his military notes and equipment.
He has a valid Michigan PTL – he was a legal gun owner. He has lots of ammunition at home, he attended 2A rallies at Lansing. He has a tight knit family, his grandfather was his best friend. He comes home and has a difficult transition, staying in contact with military friends using these apps on his phone. He has goals, he wanted to get a government contract to go an service in Iraq – he wanted those skill sets.
Use it or lose it skill set, that’s why he joined the group. He has a presumption of innocence, the burden of proof is on the government, a man’s life is on the line. Beyond a reasonable doubt.
Count 4 – possession of short barrel riffle. Harris admitted to purchasing that 2 weeks before Cambridge meeting. He disassembled it, and that’s how he travels. Government claims that he admits to it so it must be true. He didn’t bring it to Luthor, he kept it disassembled. Ty Garbin claims he saw it in a bag “through grand rapid” Franks didn’t say he saw it. Daniel testified about the disassembly – why would Ty Garbin say “grand rapids” because they can’t prove the venue.
Count 3 – the firework lit off in Luthor. Daniel admitted he carried it over the hill, tried to put it in a tree but it fell. “destructive device” – was the firework redesigned as a weapon. Daniel says he goes down, far away from everyone else and lights the fuse. There was talk of paper targets of human silhouettes, he didn’t set that up. He didn’t put them there. He agreed there were pennies taped to it, he wasn’t using it as a weapon.
Count 2 – conspiracy to create a WMD – govt allege he entered into an agreement to purchase an explosive. It must be designed or redesigned for use as a weapon. Daniel says “I can make things go boom” says he can do an IED training. In Cambria, things didn’t go well for him trying to make a balloon explode. It was Big Dan who suggested he do an IED class, which he never actually did.
On July 4th, he’s w his BF and his GF, and they are lighting smoke bombs. She says he can make M80’s Daniel says oh, cool have him call me but he never does.
At Paul Bellars house, he says “IF shit hits the fan,” I know someone who can make explosives. There is no conversation between Cowen and Harris, they never make an agreement. Daniel had no conversation with Red about explosives, or Dan, or Jenny. He never saw the videos Red made. He never discussed any plan to purchase these.
Count 1 – conspiracy to kidnap governor – people met from time to time to talk about similar interests. That’s not enough to claim there was an agreement. Because he was there at some times, doesn’t prove he was part of any plot or plan.
Daniel says big Dan was the leader, not fox, and was a war hero. He told the guys he rescued the American hero sniper Chris Kyle, says he was an expert. Daniel called him dad.
Big Dan says on May 31st, hanging out with Paul Bellar and his girlfriend – he tells Chambers these guys are wasting my time, they aren’t doing anything. He keeps pushing for a plan, we need to do something we need a plan.
Daniel is interested in politics, has gone to BLM and 2A rallies. Big Dan meets Adam and wants to push him into the Watchmen. He pushes guys to accept Adam. So much so, the government says big Dan was “crushing him”. Big Dan pushed guys to go to training in Wisconsin where they meet Steve Robeson and Jenny.
Big Dan tried to get Daniel to go on the ride along, and he declined. He didn’t go to either ride along. Much is made about this Aug 23rd meeting when they switched to a diff messaging app. Daniel had already been using that app to talk to other guys. Why didn’t the gov include exhibits from the “brick squad” group chat? No messages were introduced or shown from this. Daniel goes to Luthor – be brings a poop emoji hat, his dog, steaks, and food. They have no map for this so-called “recon” why?
Daniel works medical tent that day then goes on a beer run. By the time they get back, Adam is already gone. The rest leave at 8pm. Ty Garbin claimed Harris was “falling down drunk” he invited him to come and Harris said “I’m not feeling it” Ty is trying to get additional benefits by testifying.
In relation to count 2 with Red. If Daniel knew red was an explosives guy and red is coming to give us a big bomb to blow up a bridge, he doesn’t talk to him, doesn’t ask about it, doesn’t give him any money, he barely talks to him.
He had no idea anything else was going on. The credibility of witnesses is laid out – important for Ty and Kaleb – does witness have anything to gain or lose from the case that might influence their testimony or if they were inconsistent or have an existing relationship with the government.
Curiously Ty puts Daniel at a training on June 28th – the first day Adam comes and Ty says Daniel was “nodding in agreement” Agent says Daniel wasn’t there on June 28th. Ty talked about doing a citizens arrest, says it was illegal. Ty and Kaleb contradict each other. The FBI agent contradicts Ty’s claims. Ty claims he didn’t leave the property but we see his truck leaving, why did he lie about that?
Kaleb says he saw Daniel when they were leaving for the ride along and he doesn’t say a word to Daniel. The gov’t knew Daniel wasn’t in on any plan. Aug 9th – after Munich training. Big Dan talks to FBI says can we find a softer target that maybe Daniel Harris would go for? So they knew he didn’t want to participate in any plan. Devon mentioned his gear, firearms and ammo – he’s not charged with anything. Daniel testified honestly to you all. When asked by the government he said Ty and Kaleb are liars, and they are. They contradicted each other and an FBI agent.
In his hour-long presentation, Mike Hills painted his client, Brandon Caserta, as a loner with strong ideas, but someone disinterested in Gov. Whitmer. “My client’s main thing is the government strapping him down to put a substance in his body that he does not want in his body.”
“There’s tape of Caserta talking about ‘Zionist banker blood,’ the monetary system, adrenochrome and other conspiracies, but nothing about Whitmer. He’s not on point,” Hills said. “He’s not down with the program. He’s on his own program. He’s always on his own program.”
Joshua Blanchard, attorney for Barry Croft made the final defense close. His focus is what he called the “reprehensible” behavior of the government in this investigation. He claimed that they cherry-picked and hid evidence to portray a partial picture of the narrative. He repeatedly referred to the informants as “snitches.”
The FBI agents, prosecutors and informants are willing to put these people behind bars, he said, “to advance their careers.” “When I looked what happened in this case, I am ashamed of the behavior of the leading law enforcement agency in the US.” He spoke for 37 minutes.
AUSA Kessler was then allowed to present a rebuttal to the defense’s closing arguments. He spent about 20 minutes trying to poke holes in the defense’s statements, and saying things like “if the FBI were these criminal masterminds, why didn’t the defense spend more time grilling them on the stand?” Mr. Kessler knows some of those agents were not on the witness list and the judge prevented the defense from talking about certain things.
Kessler knows the defense had strict limitations on what evidence they could present, but he replies to defense arguments about how little tape the government played by saying that if there was helpful material in the evidence, the defense could have used it. In truth, they did not.
The judge then gave instructions to the jury and admonished them from speaking about the case to anyone, or looking at any media coverage of the trial. The judge did give the jury instructions about entrapment, which they will be allowed to consider. The fate of the defendants is now in the hands of the jury who have begun deliberations.