FILE - Ed Martin speaks at an event hosted by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., at the Capitol in Washington, June 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, File)
President Donald Trump listens as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks to members of the Michigan National Guard at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Harrison Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
US Justice Department pardon lawyer pledges ‘hard look’ at plot to kidnap Michigan governor
DETROIT (AP) 鈥 The U.S. Justice Department’s new pardon attorney said he is going to take a 鈥渉ard look鈥 at two men who are serving long prison terms for leading a conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
FILE - Ed Martin speaks at an event hosted by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., at the Capitol in Washington, June 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, File)
DETROIT (AP) 鈥 The U.S. Justice Department’s new pardon attorney said he is going to take a 鈥渉ard look鈥 at two men who are serving long prison terms for leading a conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
鈥淥n the pardon front, we can’t leave these guys behind,鈥 Ed Martin Jr. said
鈥淚n my opinion these are victims just like January 6,鈥 Martin said, referring to 1,500 people pardoned by President Donald Trump for crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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The arrests of Barry Croft Jr., Adam Fox and other anti-government extremists rocked the home stretch of the 2020 presidential election. Authorities said the cabal wanted to grab Whitmer, a Democrat, at her vacation home and start a civil war.
Croft, 49, and Fox, 42, were portrayed as leaders of the scheme. They were convicted of conspiracy in federal court in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 2022. Croft, a trucker from Delaware, was also found guilty of a weapons charge.
Croft was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison, while Fox, a Grand Rapids man, got a 16-year term. They are being held at a prison in Colorado 鈥 the most secure in the federal system.
Whitmer was never physically harmed. Martin called it a 鈥渇ed-napping鈥 plot, not a kidnapping plot, apparently referring to the numerous undercover FBI agents and informants who had infiltrated the group and built the case.
He said it looked like the 鈥渨eaponization of government.鈥
鈥淚 have complete confidence that we鈥檙e going to get a hard look at it. The president will want to know the facts about it,” Martin said, pledging to 鈥済et on it as quick as I can, I promise.鈥
An email seeking comment from Whitmer’s office wasn’t immediately returned Friday.
In 2020, she blamed Trump for over coronavirus restrictions and refusing to condemn right-wing extremists. Later, when he was out of office, Trump cast doubt on the kidnapping scheme, calling it a 鈥渇ake deal.鈥
