USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- The allegations in the press release were damning: “The Department of Justice today announced that six men have been arrested and charged federally with conspiring to kidnap the Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer.”
“These alleged extremists undertook a plot to kidnap a sitting governor,” Assistant Special Agent in Charge Josh P. Hauxhurst said in the October 8, 2020 press release.
“Whenever extremists move into the realm of actually planning violent acts, the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force stands ready to identify, disrupt and dismantle their operations, preventing them from following through on those plans.”
Five Michiganders and one Delawarean were charged with conspiring to kidnap the governor from her vacation home in western Michigan. Each faces up to life in prison if convicted.
The massive investigation involved FBI special agents from the FBI’s Detroit Field Office, members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, special agents from the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the Eastern District of Michigan and Delaware, and the Michigan State Police.
According to the criminal complaint, the suspects used Facebook to discuss the plot, and the FBI brought the social media giant into their circle of trust early on in the investigation. Facebook was all too happy to play along with the feds.
“We proactively reached out and cooperated with the FBI early in this ongoing investigation,” a Facebook spokesperson told CNN. “We remove content, disable accounts and immediately report to law enforcement when there is a credible threat of imminent harm to people or public safety.”
The day after the arrests, Facebook shut down Michigan’s Second Amendment Sanctuary page without any warning. The group had nearly 100,000 members.
“They just shut it down,” Tom Norton, an administrator for the group told Michigan Public Radio. “We woke up this morning, everybody was kicked off, blocked and 95,000 people disappeared.”
The page was used by Michiganders as a way to organize and share information on how local municipalities and counties could pass resolutions to declare themselves Second Amendment Sanctuaries.
Facebook shuttered personal pages belonging to the group’s founders and administrators too.
A Facebook spokesperson later claimed the Second Amendment Sanctuary page was shut down because it violated Facebook’s policy on “militarized social movements.”
Facebook’s press office did not return inquiries seeking comment for this story.
The FBI Case Unraveling
According to the criminal complaint, the FBI relied heavily on information provided by “Confidential Human Sources (CHS) and Undercover Employees (UCE).”
“Not all CHSs and UCEs were present at all times, however, at least one CHS or UCE was usually present during the group meetings. Those CHSs and UCEs consensually recorded the meetings and conversations with the subjects,” the complaint alleges. “Some meetings or conversations were recorded by more than one CHS or UCE. Certain CHSs also had access to group or individual texts, online chats, and phone calls. Each CHS was vetted for reliability by the FBI agent handling the source. None of the CHSs were aware of the other CHSs involved with the groups in order to preserve the independence of their reporting. Although multiple CHSs were used over the course of the investigation, this complaint only relies on audio recordings and information provided by CHS-1, CHS-2, UCE-1 and UCE-2.”
Based solely upon the complaint, the case looked solid, at least until someone took a closer look.
A scathing report from Buzzfeed News revealed that the:
“informants, acting under the direction of the FBI, played a far larger role than has previously been reported. Working in secret, they did more than just passively observe and report on the actions of the suspects. Instead, they had a hand in nearly every aspect of the alleged plot, starting with its inception. The extent of their involvement raises questions as to whether there would have even been a conspiracy without them.”
In short, there wouldn’t have even been a kidnapping plot without the FBI’s informants.
This is clearly an example of confidential informants running the FBI agents, not the agents running the CIs. The FBI’s informants created the conspiracy and the defendants tagged along. Prosecutors will be lucky to get a conviction on even the most minor of federal charges.
Collateral Damage or Just an Excuse
Noah Davis, who operates sanctuarycounties.com and its companion site constitutionalsanctuaries.com, has tracked the Second Amendment Sanctuary movement since its inception in his home state of Virginia. Davis has the most up-to-date maps and data available on the topic.
Currently, he said, more than 60% of all Michigan counties have declared themselves Second Amendment Sanctuaries, but the number would be much higher if Facebook hadn’t scuttled the movement.
“Michigan was on a roll. They were killing it in terms of creating Second Amendment Sanctuaries. Michigan was going to be the next Kentucky, and then Facebook shut them down. Not only did they shut down their main page, they shut down their sub groups and personal pages too – killing family photos and decades of personal posts,” Davis said Friday. “They completely gutted their command and control, and 100,000 Michiganders who were working in concert to spread the Second Amendment Sanctuary movement were shut off overnight.”
Not only did Facebook shut down the Michigan Sanctuary groups, similar pages in Georgia and Kentucky were also shuttered, which affected more than 500,000 people, Davis said.
“I think Facebook realized we were being too effective at coordinating our political activities, so they had to slow us down, and they gutted our ability to communicate,” Davis said. “I can’t see any other reason why they would do it other than to stop us. They predicated their decision on trumped up charges, and 100,000 Michiganders had to pay the price.”
This story is presented by the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project and wouldn’t be possible without you. Please click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support more pro-gun stories like this.
About Lee Williams
Lee Williams, who is also known as “The Gun Writer,” is the chief editor of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project. Until recently, he was also an editor for a daily newspaper in Florida. Before becoming an editor, Lee was an investigative reporter at newspapers in three states and a U.S. Territory. Before becoming a journalist, he worked as a police officer. Before becoming a cop, Lee served in the Army. He’s earned more than a dozen national journalism awards as a reporter, and three medals of valor as a cop. Lee is an avid tactical shooter.
OF COURSE, the “law enforcement agents” were behind the whole plot. I don’t think there are any notable exceptions to what has become The Rule.
You are an idiot if you have a facebook and twitter account. They only have power if you give it to them, as YOU are their product: all your clicks and likes and posts and surfing and emails are a treasure trove you willingly give to Mark F uckerburg or Jack when you open an account.
Yep. And how many patriots here pay Amazon Prime & Netflix the money they use to cut our throats?
Good point. Those two are indoctrinating the country with their politically correct content, full of moral relativism, climate change hype, gender fluidity, lefty socialist doctrine, etc. Beside which there hasn’t been a good movie out of hollywood in decades. Books and outdoor sports are far better entertainment.
“Indoor sports” too!
Amazon at least does have some reloading press accessories and books on shooting-related subjects. Not usually my first choice, but I have gotten a few things there.
With all the ‘thumbs down’ it looks like you hit a nerve. And then AZ’s response get thumbs ups. Looks like a flock of NIMBYs who got their sacred cows dissed. I have both, but I am aware that Amazon has become bosom buddies with the CCP and, as Russn8r says, will be happy to cut our throats in pursuit of the almighty dollar for Amazon and power for the CCP.
Add FBI to BATFE on the list of federal law enforcement agencies that have outlived their usefulness.
Perhaps if Farcebook was shut down and the plug pulled they may come to a different conclusion.
At this point if Fakebook was shut down, another just like it would spring up. We must address the underlying causes that allows FB and the other Big Tech Tyrants to violate the Constitution and Bill of Rights and strip us of our freedoms as they work hand in hand with the leftist political movements in our country.
Facebook, Twitter, Government – Don’t feed the animals at the Social Control Club Zoo.
HLB
I left facebook and twitter years ago. Thay are both POSes and conduits directly into NSA and other lettered federal agencies. BTW, Thank you “W” the father of the “patriot act” which isn’t patriotic at all; but anti-constitutional in fact!
SECOND AMENDMENT SANCTUARY, RESOLUTION AND RESOLVE TOWNSHIPS, COUNTIES AND TOWNS ARE DOING JUST FINE. EVERYONE IS MOVING FORWARD WITH PLANS AT EVERY LEVEL.
IT amazes me to see that many gun dealers and even the major firearms manufactures use FaceBook accounts. Not to mention gun owners and Pro 2nd Amendment organizations! We feed the beast that is is trying to kill us! I no longer subscribe to these anti 1st and 2nd Amendment cesspools.
i dont even have a smart phone builtin tracking ,not so smart. Iwhat if you get lost in the woods I always carry and have a compass,knife and fire starter family taught me to survive in the wild and find my way.. the fbi was started to watch rosevelts political enemies hoover kept lists and had more power than even presidents because he had dirt on them. fbi has not changed just no longer has one true head so like the hydra to make it useful you would have to get rid of all the crooks ,or easier start over… Read more »
How is the American citizen supposed to trust l.e.? This kind of crap is what can be expected in n. korea, china, russia… but not here at home in the U.S. Isn’t this against the law here in the U.S.A.? Where are the cops who are supposed to police themselves? What was the number ratio of cops to the targeted? One of the reasons satan was regulated to crawl on his belly and eat dust was just such a coercion of Eve in the garden of Eden. It was wrong and evil back then and it still is today. There… Read more »
WE, The People need to start a coalition to IMMEDIATELY remove from office, any and all elected and /or appointed officials that violate their oaths of office instead of this apathetic mantra of, “wait and vote them out of office”. It isn’t hard to do, it just takes effort and backbone. Or, just keep living like slaves with some semblance of a memory of what you thought was freedom and liberty. We can call it C.R.A.P. Citizens Removing Apathetic Politicians… We will send these deadbeats to the “Crapper“.
Get off your apathetic ass, have someone drive you out of the desert to the nearest VFW hall, and get them to sign a letter opposing the appointment of Chipman to Director of the BATFE and send it to Jon Tester, who is a ranking member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
Call Tester’s offices and provide a status report.
Get moving.
You really don’t want people to do anything to oppose Chipman’s appointment, do you?
Regarding the VFW, you don’t get it, do you? If you socialized with others in person you would have a better grasp of when people use references that are not literal.
Jean-Lloyd Schartre wants to justify his own dereliction of duty. What good does he think his online public masturbation achieves?
50+ years of unresolved bitterness + little human interaction other than with criminals = what he is laying down
little human interaction other than with criminals… and “women” (wink-wink).
Please . . . he just recently dialed back on that – don’t get him going.
For f’s sake, thank God we don’t have a democracy. Democracy is tyranny of the majority… majority meaning 1 more than the other side. Whine all you like about the republic, or better yet, don’t, and leave both the country and the forum. Since you are a crybaby victim in every aspect of your life, go somewhere else, like some utopia democracy of progressive unicorn farts.
He wants your money.
Enough with your apathetic grandiose Tiger Talk. You’re like a liberal: “We” need to do this and that, while YOU do nothing. Lead from the front, grunt! See how far you get with that.
If only we could “shutter” YouFace and all their ilk.
REMEMBER THE “HUTAREE” CASE? THE HUTAREE WON EVERY ELEMENT OF THE CASE. THE FEDS OPENLY LIED ABOUT VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING AND THE CONTROLED RAT PRESS WERE THE FEDS MEAT PUPPET MOUTH PIECE. DURING THE COURT EVENT THE FEDS STATED…”THEY WANTED TO SEE HOW MUCH THEY COULD GET AWAY WITH.” (COURT RECORD) THE COMMUNISTS IN THE FED ARE ALL THE SAME. TRASH/FOREIGN RUN. PERIOD.
It’s funny they say violated the policy of militarized political or social movements but it’s not hard at all to find the New Black Panthers or nfac or antifa you can find them all on there with 50,000 60,000 people in the groups. So many groups they got ones for New York you got them for California Los Angeles area it’s ridiculous but the second amendment groups definitely get shut down because guns are scary I guess
So, why does anyone even use Facetoob?? It’s their prerogative to stifle anyone for any imaginative reason, no matter how more or less conservative it is. What a waste of electrons!
Here is all you need to know! https://www.revolver.news/2021/06/stewart-rhodes-oath-keepers-missing-link-fbi-unindicted-co-conspirator/
Ok, I’ll bite. Again.
$100 says the Vegas massacre was a bungled FBI/ATF entrapment or sting. Stinks like a B in heat.