On last day of Whitmer plot hearing, undercover agent embedded with defendants testifies

TRAVERSE CITY — On the fourth and final day of testimony in the preliminary examination of five men accused of plotting to kidnap the governor, an undercover FBI agent, who went by the name Mark, told the court Thursday what he saw and heard while embedded with the defendants in northern Michigan.

District Judge Michael Stepka said he would make a decision about whether there is probable cause for the case to go to trial — likely in the next few weeks.

Stepka agreed to also consider whether the defendants — Michael and William Null, 40, of Plainwell and Shelbyville, respectively; Shawn Fix, 40, of Belleville; Brian Higgins, 53, of Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin; and Eric Molitor, 38, of Cadillac — would modify their bond conditions and allow their electronic monitoring tethers to be removed.

"I implore the court to leave these tethers in place," said Assistant Attorney General William Rollstin. He added that the men "weren't fooling around" and noted that wearing a restrictive ankle bracelet was "a lot better than being in jail."

The five defendants are charged with providing material support for domestic terrorism, a 20-year felony.

The judge said he'd consider the defense arguments for removing the tether and likely decide in about a week.

For most of the day, Stepka ordered, for the undercover FBI agent's safety, that no photos or videos be taken in the courtroom, ruling against a request from Eric VanDussen, a freelance videographer who said he is recording the proceedings to make a documentary.

In court, Mark corroborated FBI special agent Henrik Impola's testimony earlier in the week and in the federal case in which a jury convicted two men, Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr., the ringleaders of the wide-ranging foiled domestic terrorism plot.

Mark testified that after a day of weapons training in Luther, Michigan, on Sept. 12, 2020, defendants accused of aiding a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer headed to her Up North vacation cottage near Elk Rapids to do some evening surveillance.

On the way — the agent testified — one of the men said: "You could blow the bridge in Elk Rapids to slow a law enforcement response down."

They got to Elk Rapids at about midnight, the agent added, and everyone was armed with "long guns."

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Mark described how he met Fox — and then others. He said Fox was a marijuana smoker. Fox invited the undercover agent to a training exercise to prepare for his plot against Whitmer. The agent said he then met Fix and the Null twins at a training event in Wisconsin, and later Molitor and Higgins, at a training event with guns in Luther.

In Luther, William Null, the agent said, later suggested that it would be better if they shot the governor.

The agent said he was initially introduced to Fix, who was Fox's executive officer, and he made "small talk" with the Null brothers. In Wisconsin, the agent added, Fix "indicated he had a cache of weapons," and continued to communicate with him via text after the training exercise.

The agent said he and Fix met again — this time in Belleville, Michigan — where there was more training, and Fox began to talk about kidnapping legislators and the governor. Fox identified three locations where the governor could be abducted and detailed how to defeat forensics.

According to the agent: Fix said he was a Navy SEAL, had done four combat tours, and had a helicopter that could be used to transport the governor. The agent said he asked what he could do to help, and he was told he could do some reconnaissance of the governor's private home.

Earlier in the week, the state's key witness, FBI special agent Henrik Impola, detailed a monthslong investigation.

But beyond the accusations against the defendants, Impola described how law enforcement uncovered dozens of people in several states airing complaints against the government and discussing and planning violence against police and various elected officials.

How serious or realistic they were in carrying these plans out is what this case is likely to come down to. The prosecution asserts that the defendants were deadly serious while the defense suggested that all this talk, if there even was talk, was nothing but a bunch of bravado and role play.

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com. Contact Annie Doyle: 231-675-0099 or adoyle@charlevoixcourier.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Undercover FBI agent testifies in Whitmer plot hearing