Six members of a local militia have been indicted by US justice for planning the kidnapping of Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a fierce opponent of President Donald Trump, according to court documents released Thursday.
The six men, who were arrested, had planned to kidnap Ms. Whitmer before the presidential election on November 3 and then try her for “treason”, according to the investigation carried out since the beginning of the year by the federal police.
They reproached the governor in particular for being a “tyrant” and having “unchecked power”. Ms. Gretchen had decreed in mid-March some of the most severe restrictions in the country to curb the coronavirus epidemic in her state in the northern United States, one of the most affected by Covid-19.
Several kidnapping scenarios had been considered: in Lansing, the state capital, at his home and at his vacation home in northern Michigan. To carry out their project, the conspirators attempted to buy explosives according to an undercover FBI agent.
Gretchen Whitmer is the regular target of attacks by Mr. Trump for her handling of the pandemic and several hundred opponents of the lockdown, some heavily armed, have repeatedly demonstrated in Lansing for the reopening of the local economy.
At the end of April, armed demonstrators had even entered the Michigan Capitol to demand the relaxation of health measures.