A jury convicted two men on charges related to a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Adam Fox and Barry Croft were found guilty Tuesday of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, and Croft was also found guilty of possession of an unregistered destructive device, reported WJBK-TV.
"The defendants in this case believe their anti-government views justify violence," said David Porter, FBI assistant special agent from Detroit. " Today's verdict is a clear example they were wrong in their assessment."
The two men were tried on conspiracy to kidnap charges earlier this year, but the jury failed to reach a verdict, and two other men charged with the same crime were acquitted.
Croft and Fox planned to blow up a bridge to distract police while they kidnapped the governor, who they opposed because of public health measures she implemented to halt the spread of the coronavirus.
"Today's verdicts prove that violence and threats have no place in our politics and those who seek to divide us will be held accountable. They will not succeed," Whitmer said in a statement. "But we must also take a hard look at the status of our politics. Plots against public officials and threats to the FBI are a disturbing extension of radicalized domestic terrorism that festers in our nation, threatening the very foundation of our republic.
