No Guilty Verdicts in Whitmer Kidnapping Trial

Background: Several extremists faced charges for an alleged conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. We covered the details in this deep dive—early investigations showed that the FBI set them up. Democrats and Whitmer blamed Trump for the plot and used the story to damage him pre-elections.

Acquittal: Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta of Michigan were found not guilty of conspiring to kidnap Gov. Whitmer. The acquittal shows that the defense attorneys had successfully argued that the FBI entrapped the defendants.

Big picture: It’s clear that the bureau is a partisan weapon. While prior evidence of FBI wrongdoing came from independent journalism, this is the first directly from the Department of Justice.