Trial ordered for 5 men involved in plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Whitmer – By John Flesher (Associated Press) / Dec 7, 2022
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Five men were turned over for trial Wednesday on charges involving a foiled plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Michael Null, William Null, Eric Molitor and Shawn Fix, all from Michigan, are accused of providing material support for terrorist acts as well as a gun crime. Brian Higgins of Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, was charged with the providing material support count.
Judge Michael Stepka ruled that evidence presented in a preliminary hearing justified a trial in Antrim County, where Whitmer’s Elk Rapids vacation home is located and prosecutors say the abduction was to happen. They say four of the defendants scouted the house and surroundings, and there was talk of blowing up a bridge to keep police from responding.
Fourteen people — six in federal court, eight in state courts — were arrested in October 2020 and charged with backing the scheme.
