Confidential informant testifies as Whitmer plot hearings resume
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Mar. 5—Friday morning in Jackson, three men accused in a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are in court for a hearing that will help determine whether they stand trial.
A confidential informant is testifying, said Judge Michael Klaeren, of Jackson's 12th District Court.
The informant will be called only "Dan" during proceedings, Klaeren said.
The video on the court feed is shut down when "Dan" speaks, the prosecution and defense attorneys agreed. But audio on the YouTube feed will stay on.
"'Dan' will be in the courtroom," Klaeren said. "Attorneys will have the opportunity to confront him."
"Dan" is a military veteran, he testified.
Klaeren is presiding over a third day of hearings for Paul Bellar, 22, of Milford; Joseph Morrison, 26, of Munith; and Morrison's father-in-law, Pete Musico, 42, of Munith.
Bellar, Morrison and Musico are among 14 men charged in the plot.
"Dan" said he is an FBI cooperator who was tasked with "maintaining a role" with the Wolverine Watchmen.
Dan said he saw a Facebook post by Paul Bellar asking people who "wanted to train," or to fire weapons together, to reach out. He did.
He said the group communicated on an app called Wire.
After attesting to his sworn duty as a veteran to "fight any enemies, foreign and domestic," Dan was allowed inside, he testified.
He said Musico made a post seeking the addresses of law enforcement officers and, eventually, Whitmer.
Musico allegedly tried to also get Whitmer's phone number.
"He wanted to chew her a— out," Dan testified. "He didn't like her."
Asked if the group was white supremacist, he said they were not.
"They were open to all walks of life," Dan said.
Thursday: FBI agent: Three Whitmer plot defendants talked about abducting her
Informant status came with costs
After seeing a questionable post on Wire, Dan says he showed it to a friend, a police officer. The app wouldn't let him take a screenshot; he had to show him the post in-person.
His friend got back to him and told him he should expect to be contacted by the FBI. Dan thought he would just be handing off the tip and the FBI would take it from there.
Dan said physical safety was a concern. He has a daughter. Because someone in one of the connected groups had his address, he sold the house at a loss, as well as a vehicle he owned then.
"If they're wanting to seek out law enforcement, what would they do to me?" Dan said on the stand, sharing his concerns about cooperating and testifying.
He has had to miss work, rearranging his schedule to accommodate training events. Others in the group were unemployed, and had more free time to conduct daytime trainings.
During Michigan Capitol breach, 'we ... could bring firearms'
Dan was wearing a wire during the April 30 breach of the Michigan Capitol, after a protest against the state's COVID-19 restrictions.
He testified that the three suspects showed up in "tactical matter," he said, including body armor. They carried long guns and pistols, he said.
April 30: Protesters, some armed, enter Michigan Capitol in rally against COVID-19 limits
As noon approached there was "chatter" about a possible "breach" of the Capitol building, Dan testified.
But there was no need.
"State police were allowing us to come in," Dan said.
There were temperature checks. While signs were prohibited inside the building, the guns were allowed.
"Were they looking for anything?" the prosecutor asked.
"A fight," Dan said.
Testimony outlines '123' plan to capture Whitmer
Dan said that at a June 18 rally at the Capitol, the group didn't have the numbers to mount any sort of attack on the Capitol. The focus increasingly shifted to catching Whitmer elsewhere, he said.
Alleged co-conspirator Adam Fox allegedly said he wanted to "hogtie" the governor.
Three strategies formed, Dan testified. This was the "123" plan.
Site one was the Capitol. Site two was Whitmer's Traverse City-area residence. Site three was a vacation home in the Upper Peninsula, Dan said.
Site three was "Pete's plan," Dan said, referring to Musico.
Dan said he personally helped surveil the Traverse City home. The group scoured news reports and real estate sites to find the home's layout and its exact address.
That information is "very important" to people plotting a capture, Dan said.
"If we know how many rooms we're going into, we can start training for that," Dan said. "If it's a two-bedroom house we train for that. If it's a three-floor home, we train for that."
Dan said he took care to not drive too slow near the home for fear of attracting attention.
The group came to believe that a water entry might work better than using main roads, he said. The belief was that the home could be approached via water, using kayaks.
When the plotters were met by the governor's security team, they would "engage" or kill them, Dan said.
Had her husband or children been around, a decision would've been made on the spot on what to do with them, Dan said. There was no specific plan.
After the governor was captured, the plan was to put her on a boat headed for Wisconsin, where she would be tried by a "kangaroo court," Dan said.
Andrew Kirkpatrick, attorney for Paul Bellar, cross-examined Dan after a lunch recess.
He pushed back at the characterization of the Capitol action on April 30 as anything untoward.
Under questioning, Dan admitted to a heavy presence of law enforcement at the Capitol, that state police allowed protesters in and took their temperatures, and that guns — even AR-15s — are allowed at the Capitol and that the FBI was listening the entire time, and arrested no one.
Dan testified earlier that the protesters had "pounded on" a door they believed led to the governor's office. Kirkpatrick asked whether the door was ever breached, and Dan said no.
"It's not illegal to be armed at the Capitol, correct? It's not illegal to carry an AR-15 at the Capitol, right?"
Dan said no.
