Men who allegedly plotted to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic governor in 2020 sought to buy bombs with “IOUs”, a court has heard.

FBI agent Timothy Bates testified Monday that he had posed undercover as a bomb-maker and infiltrated the plotters’ group.

The group was “excited” to buy bombs, but did not have the funds, he said.

The government says the men are armed extremists who targeted Gretchen Whitmer over her Covid-19 policies.

But lawyers for the four accused argue they were entrapped by the FBI.

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Closing arguments and jury deliberations are expected Friday following a 14-day trial of four men accused of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, one of the most closely watched cases of domestic terrorism in recent history.

Testimony ended in federal court in Grand Rapids Thursday with just one of the four defendants testifying. Lake Orion resident Daniel Harris, 24, a Marine, denied joining any conspiracy during and during a combative cross examination, called an FBI informant a “b—-” and the government’s star witnesses “liars.”

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A convicted felon belonging to a US neo-Nazi hate group was paid over $100,000 by the FBI over the course of 18 years for information on the neo-Nazi underworld.

A convicted felon linked to a US neo-Nazi hate group was paid over $100,000 by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) over the course of 18 years in order to provide information about his fellow group-members, a recent court document has revealed.

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Extremist leader repeatedly worked undercover for investigators after his arrest in 2012, former prosecutor and court files reveal

Enrique Tarrio, leader of the far-right group the Proud Boys leader during a march into Freedom Plaza, in Washington DC on 12 December 2020.

Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys extremist group, has a past as an informer for federal and local law enforcement, repeatedly working undercover for investigators after he was arrested in 2012, according to a former prosecutor and a transcript of a 2014 federal court proceeding obtained by Reuters.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys extremist group, has a past as an informer for federal and local law enforcement, repeatedly working undercover for investigators after he was arrested in 2012, according to a former prosecutor and a transcript of a 2014 federal court proceeding obtained by Reuters.

In the Miami hearing, a federal prosecutor, a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and Tarrio’s own lawyer described his undercover work and said he had helped authorities prosecute more than a dozen people in various cases involving drugs, gambling and human smuggling.

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