Plot to kidnap Michigan gov. stopped; 13 arrested

WHITMER: "Thirteen members of two militia groups who were preparing to kidnap and possibly kill me."

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer thanked law enforcement on Thursday after they arrested thirteen people, many linked to an anti-government militia group, involved in alleged plots to abduct the Democratic governor and attack the state capitol building.

WHITMER: "I also want to thank Attorney General Nessel and the U.S. Attorney's Birge and Schneider and their teams for pursuing criminal charges that hopefully will lead to convictions, bringing these sick and depraved men to justice."

Earlier, at a press conference in Grand Rapids, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Andrew Birge detailed a complicated plot to violently overthrow Michigan's government - an operation FBI agents became aware of on social media.

BIRGE: "The alleged conspirators used operational security measures, including communicating by encrypted messaging platforms and used code words and phrases in an attempt to avoid detection by law enforcement. [FLASH] ...conducted coordinated surveillance on the governor's vacation home. [FLASH] ...discussed detonating explosive devices to divert police from the area of the home. [FLASH] ...and that the group successfully detonated an improvised explosive device wrapped with shrapnel to test its anti-personnel capabilities."

Whitmer has been a frequent target of President Donald Trump's ire for her efforts to enforce social distancing measures, and tweeted in April: "LIBERATE MICHIGAN."

From the state's capital on Thursday, the governor accused Trump of encouraging extremist groups, citing comments he made to the a far-right Proud Boys at last month's presidential debate.

TRUMP: "Stand back and stand by." WHITMER: "Hate groups heard the president's words not as a rebuke, but as a rallying cry, as a call to action."

Trump's Democratic challenger Joe Biden said he also thought the president's words encouraged violent domestic extremists.

BIDEN: "The words of a president matter. [FLASH] And you saw what the head of the FBI said a couple days ago. He said the greatest terrorist threat in America is from white supremacists. Why can't the President just say 'Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop'?"

As of Thursday evening, Trump had not made any remarks related to the alleged kidnapping plot.

But Michigan's Republican Senate majority leader Mike Shirkey said on Twitter: "A threat against our Governor is a threat against us all. We condemn those who plotted against her and our government. They are not patriots. There is no honor in their actions. They are criminals and traitors, and they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."