Trump to consider pardons for men convicted in Whitmer kidnapping plot

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would consider granting pardons to the men convicted in the 2020 plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump was asked whether he would pardon those involved in the failed plot.

“I’m going to look at it. I will take a look at it. It’s been brought to my attention,” Trump said.“I did watch the trial. It looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job, I’ll be honest with you. It looked to me like some people said some stupid things, you know they were drinking, and I think they said stupid things.”

“A lot of people are asking me that question, from both sides actually. A lot of people think they got railroaded. A lot of people think they got railroaded and probably some people don’t,” Trump added.

Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. were convicted for their roles in the plot, which included plans to kidnap Whitmer from her vacation home during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The men were alleged to be motivated by anger over government restrictions imposed during the pandemic.

Fox was sentenced in 2022 to 16 years in prison after being found guilty of two conspiracy charges related to the plot to kidnap and for obtaining a weapon of mass destruction to blow up a bridge. Croft received a 19-year sentence for a similar charge, including possession of an unregistered explosive device.

Earlier this year, both men lost appeals in which they argued they were entrapped by undercover FBI agents who encouraged and enabled the plot. A federal judge rejected their claims, finding that Fox had proposed kidnapping Whitmer and had also “proposed, planned, and participated in both reconnaissance trips to Governor Whitmer’s home.”

“Those are hardly the actions of a reluctant innocent who has unwarily been hoodwinked into criminal behavior by a government agent,” the judges wrote.