Whitmer kidnapping trial symbol of discord in west Michigan
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Four men described by prosecutors as radicals who schemed to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are on trial in a federal courthouse named for Gerald R. Ford, a political Mr. Nice Guy revered for moderation and bridge-building after the Watergate scandal.
To some extent, the jarring contrast reflects the direction politics and public discourse have taken since the former president represented the Grand Rapids area in Congress — and particularly in recent years.
Anger and intense partisanship tearing the U.S. social fabric are showing up in western and northern Michigan, where the trial's jurors live, despite the area's longtime reputation for Midwestern congeniality.
“The natural tendency toward civility that government has always tried to promote has diminished incredibly," said Bill Rustem, a veteran GOP political operative and aide to several Michigan governors. “Instead of a rational debate over policy, it's becoming who's tougher, who's stronger, who can be the bigger bully.”
Adam Fox, Brandon Caserta, Barry Croft and Daniel Harris were charged in October 2020 with conspiring to abduct Whitmer from her northern Michigan vacation home. Prosecutors allege they were members of extremist paramilitary groups angry over the Democrat's COVID-19 restrictions. Defense attorneys say there was no plot and the men were cajoled by undercover FBI agents.
The 18 jurors and alternates were among a candidate pool drawn from a 22-county section of the federal court district covering western Michigan. It extends from just below Grand Rapids — the state's second-largest city, where Ford's museum and gravesite are located near the courthouse — northward to the tip of the Lower Peninsula, a distance of roughly 250 miles (400 kilometers).
None of the defendants is from that part of...