Co-leader of plot to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer sentenced to 16 years in prison

One of two men said to have been the leader of a plot to kidnap and potentially harm the governor of Michigan in 2020 has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.

The Department of Justice announced the sentencing of Adam Fox on Tuesday, while noting that his co-conspirator Barry Croft Jr would be sentenced on Wednesday.

According to the federal government, “Fox and Croft intended to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer from her vacation cottage near Elk Rapids, Michigan, and use the destructive devices to facilitate their plot by harming and hindering the governor’s security detail and any responding law enforcement officers.”

Mr Croft was also convicted of possessing an improvised explosive device fashioned out of a commercial firework to serve as a grenade. According to the DoJ, the two along with others discussed the possibility of placing an explosive under an interstate highway overpass.

“Today’s sentence reflects the Department of Justice’s unwavering commitment to protecting our elected officials, law enforcement officers, and dedicated public servants from criminal threats and violence — and to holding the perpetrators of such acts fully accountable under the law,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen.

Two men who testified against the pair were previously sentenced and given far lighter punishments — one served a two-and-a-half year sentence before being released, while another is serving a four-year prison term.

Ms Whitmer was not up for reelection in 2020, when the plot was busted by federal agents. But she did run for office again two years later, easily defeating Trump-backed Republican challenger Tudor Dixon.

Former President Donald Trump famously questioned whether the plot really took place earlier this year, mirroring the conspiracies that far-right Republicans in Congress have spread about the attack on Congress perpetrated by Mr Trump’s supporters on January 6.

Her home state (and her administration) was the subject of some of the most heated debates over Covid-19 restrictions in the country; Michigan is a deep-purple state and many of the state’s conservative residents chafed at Ms Whitmer’s closure of non-essential businesses in early 2020. Many of Ms Whitmer’s authorities and orders would later be rolled back by the state’s GOP-controlled legislature.