Three Men Convicted of Giving ‘Material Support’ to 2020 Plot to Kidnap Michigan Governor Whitmer

A Michigan state court convicted three men on Wednesday of aiding a 2020 plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in retaliation for COVID-19 pandemic mitigation policies put in place by her government.

The Detroit-area court found Paul Bellar, Joseph Morrison and Pete Musico guilty of providing “material support” for a terrorist act as well as gang membership and possession of a weapon while committing a felony - all three felony crimes that could land them in prison for 20 years.

The three were members of a far-right militia group, the Wolverine Watchmen, who spoke openly of their hatred for government officials, including both elected officials like Whitmer as well as police officers. The jury heard testimony about their plans to lynch government officials, kidnap Whitmer at her vacation home, and prepare for the “boogaloo,” a far-right militia term for an impending civil war that they believed would be triggered by the kidnapping.

“Their gang was organized, their gang was mobilizing, and their gang was training for action,” the jury heard from Sunita Doddamani, an assistant attorney general in Michigan, during closing arguments.

The men dodged federal charges, despite being named in prior trials about the kidnapping plot. Two other trials earlier this year saw two men found guilty, two men acquitted, and two more freed following a mistrial.

In a statement following the announcement of the verdict, Whitmer said the verdicts were “further proof that violence and threats have no place in our politics.”

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks at a campaign stop for Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., at the Detroit Pistons practice facility in Detroit, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020.

© AP Photo / Paul Sancya

"Those who seek to sow discord by pursuing violent plots will be held accountable under the law,” she added.

“This trial is another stark reminder that we must take an honest look at the state of our politics," Whitmer said. "Politically motivated plots, threats, and violence are increasingly common against public officials as well as everyday citizens. They are the logical, disturbing extension of radicalization, hatred, and conspiratorial thinking that festers in America, threatening the foundation of our republic.”

In Washington, DC, hundreds of people, many of them members of similar far-right militia groups, have been charged in connection with another violent attack on a government building: the January 6, 2021, storming of the US Capitol Building. The assault was launched by supporters of then-US President Donald Trump, who had encouraged his followers to “stop the steal” at a rally earlier that day. Five people died in the attack, but the insurrectionists failed at their goal of overturning the results of the November 2020 election that Trump had lost to Joe Biden.

Although right-wing vigilante groups have existed throughout US history, conspiratorial paramilitary groups began to emerge in their present form and politics in the early 1980s and were linked to numerous terrorist attacks, including the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building that killed 168 people. Timothy McVeigh, the bomber behind the attack, was a member of the Michigan Militia, from whom the Wolverine Watchmen had reportedly split and who also took part in anti-COVID-19 regulation actions.