Defense tells jury: FBI agents made up Whitmer kidnap plot to 'build their careers'

In his final push to save his client, a defense attorney blasted the FBI investigation into the alleged plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, telling jurors rogue agents made it all up to advance their own careers.

"This investigation was an embarrassment," attorney Joshua Blanchard told the jury in his closing arguments. "And we have to tell them this isn’t how our country operates. We can’t use people like Barry Croft, Adam Fox, Brandon Caserta and Daniel Harris as pawns in order to advance our interest."

Blanchard's voice grew loud as he urged the jury to acquit four men who he believes were framed for crimes they did not commit. His client is Croft, a man he described as a "crazy stoned pirate" who was loud, outspoken, crass - and was outraged by the rioting following the death of George Floyd and the "people who are burning America down."

"They say Barry is one of the leaders. According to them, he's about to pull of one of the biggest acts of domestic terrorism in history," Blanchard said. "It’s all smoke and mirrors."

There was no plan to kidnap the governor, Blanchard said repeatedly, only "crazy stoned" tough talkers who vented about the government, and got played by informants and agents who pretended to be their friends while setting them up.

Blanchard accused the government of withholding evidence from the jury, claiming the prosecution only offered snippets of recorded conversations, and lured them to meetings and trainings that the FBI had set up.

"There is only one group of people with the power to tell them that this type of behavior is not OK," Blanchard said. "This is in your hands. You have the power to tell the FBI that this type of behavior stops here."

"And the only way to do that is by returning a verdict of not guilty."

More from Whitmer kidnap plot trial:

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'You guys are our last chance': Adam Fox's lawyer urges Whitmer kidnap plot jury to acquit

Prosecutor gets last word

Blanchard is representing Croft, a Delaware man whom prosecutors say built explosives as part of the group's plan to blow up bridge to slow down law enforcement after the kidnapping. Jurors heard a video recording of Croft tell his 12-year-old daughter at a militia meeting: "Honey, I'm building explosives."

Blanchard did not get into that conversation during his closing, saying only that his client was an animated Second Amendment advocate who said bad things about the government.

Blanchard also mocked the government's weapons of mass destruction charges, telling jurors all his client did was try to blow up some balloons in a stove.

"They put some powder in a balloon and they couldn’t get it to go off," Blanchard said, noting the suspects tried a second time. "But what happens? Nothing. It goes poof, and there’s smoke."

Croft was the last defense lawyer to present his arguments to the jury, though he didn't get the last word.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler got to rebut the defense, and was quick to pounce on claims that the government withheld evidence.

"What aren’t we showing you?" Kessler said, noting all the evidence was turned over to the defense. "You know that they had this evidence, and if there was admissible evidence that they thought could help their case, they would have put it on – they didn’t."

In his rebuttal, Kessler implored the jury to focus on the actual evidence that was presented during the trial, which lasted a bit longer than three weeks.

" If somebody is hiding the truth from you," Kessler told the jury, "ask yourself who that is."

Kessler also called into the question the defense's targeting of Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, two men who pleaded guilty in the case and testified against the others. He said the pair had to recall on their memories, and not recordings, because they weren't working for the government — they were part of the plot.

Mike Hills, the defense attorney for Brandon Caserta, said he's hopeful the jury questions the reliability of Garbin and Franks.

"I think we tried to make it very clear that the snitches Garbin and Franks were inconsistent," Hills said, exiting the Gerald R. Ford Federal Building in Grand Rapids. "They were actually lying — it was more than inconsistent. They were lying, and they were doing so for time, which is the most precious thing you can have. I'm hoping it impacted the jury."

Prosecutor mocks defense strategy

During his rebuttal, Kessler took a shot at the defense's case, which involved only a handful of witnesses, including an FBI agent whom the defense claimed masterminded the whole plot and framed their clients.

His name is Jayson Chambers. He was the last witness to testify for the defense, and his testimony was brief.

Kessler argued that the defense claims "Jayson Chambers is this evil mastermind pulling all the strings," yet he only took "the stand for about 90 seconds."

Why didn't Blanchard question the agent about the alleged hidden evidence, Blanchard asked, noting the other defense lawyers stayed quiet.

"The other three didn't ask him questions at all. C'mon," Kessler said "If he was so nefarious, why the short questioning."

'We need to grab Whitmer'

As for claims that the government took the defendants' comments out of context, Kessler said that was unfounded, then recited one of Croft's comments that he was heard making:

"Croft said, 'We needed to grab Whitmer. Whitmer. Michigan. Whitmer, kill her armed guards.' Is there any context that you can think of that that statement was OK?" the prosecutor asked the jury.

Kessler spent his final moments before the jury countering claims made by defense lawyers for all four defendants as they hammered away at the theme that the case is all about talk, protected speech, and that there was no real plan by anyone to harm the governor.

The defense also denied claims that the group was trying to come up with $4,000 to put a down payment on explosives.

Kessler reminded the jury about comments that they heard during the trial, maintaining it was Adam Fox who took the order for a bomb, and the others agreed to help come up with the money.

"You heard him say, 'I’m going to raise that money,' " Kessler told the jury.

He then reminded the jury about what happened on Oct. 7, 2020, when the four men were arrested in a sting outside an Ypsilanti warehouse.

"(Fox) showed up with some money in his pocket," Kessler said, referring to the $267 that Fox had with him when he was arrested.

So did Daniel Harris, he said.

"Adam Fox put the order in. Dan Harris said he would put in the group cash, and then he showed up on Oct. 7 with hundreds of dollars of cash in his pocket."

'Big Dan' took risks

Kessler said there was no evidence at trial of informants handing out credit cards to the defendants, though a defense lawyer did try to raise that allegation during trial, but the judge told him he couldn't.

Kessler also took issue with the defense claiming informant 'Big Dan' told his FBI handling agent that the Wolverine Watchmen weren't doing anything wrong.

"Dan never said these guys aren’t doing anything bad," Kessler said.

Kessler also defended the role of Big Dan, who came under fire from all four defense attorneys. They maintained he lied to build his resume and because he got paid $50,000 for his work as an informant. Big Dan was really a truck driver for the post office.

Kessler said he did legitimate work for the FBI, and that the $50,000 he got was paid out over time, not handed to him in a "lump sum."

"Dan spent a year of his life doing this. Some of that was pretty serious" Kessler said. "He had to move because he was in danger."

It wasn't 'just vaccines'

Kessler also disagreed with the defense's assertion that Brandon Caserta had no role in the plot, and was merely a minor character who went to meetings to train, and that his biggest gripe was with the possibility of COVID-19 vaccines becoming mandatory.

"He was a soldier in this organization. He wasn’t in charge, nobody said that," Kessler said. "(Caserta) said right up front before he met any of them, the true purpose of the Second Amendment is to kill agents, and 'I'm in.' Ask yourselves why he thought that."

Kessler argued that Caserta was more than a vocal anti-vaxxer who was only with the militia to train. If that were the case, he said, then why did he take part in "extract an asset" exercises, with the asset being Whitmer. And why did he discourage the group from attending protests and say things like "we gotta lay low" and "we gotta use more violence."

"That's not about the vaccines," Kessler said as he continued to cite comments that the jury heard Caserta making, such as: "If I get hemmed up, I'll do my time."

"Who says that?" Kessler said, claiming that comment was made while Fox discussed with Caserta how they would maneuver around the shore of a lake during their kidnapping attempt, and use flex cuffs to bind the governor's hands.

"(Caserta) says, 'That sounds tight,' " Kessler said. "The only person they are talking about extracting is Governor Whitmer."

Fox was found to have flex cuffs in his basement resident, he said.

'They were going to do it'

Kessler concluded his rebuttal by stressing to the jury that the details of the suspect's plan were not important. It didn't matter if they were going to use a boat, several boats, or no boat at all - he said. All that mattered was that they planned to kidnap the governor, agreed to do it, and that "they were going to do it," he said.

Kessler's final words were about Croft, the Delaware man whose house was filled with "everything you need to have to build a bomb," he said.

"His lawyer said all Barry Croft wanted to do was fix the government," Kessler said. "And you heard how he wanted to do that - setting fire to police officers, hanging the governor. That’s not fixing anything,"

The case is now in the hands of the jury. Deliberations begin Monday.

Tresa Baldas:tbaldas@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Defense: FBI made up Whitmer kidnap plot to 'build their careers'