Duo found guilty over plot to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer

A jury on Tuesday convicted two men of conspiring to kidnap the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer,

in 2020, in a plot prosecutors described as a rallying cry for a US civil war by anti-government extremists.

It was the second trial for Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr after a jury in April could not reach a unanimous verdict. Two other men were acquitted and two more pleaded guilty and testified for prosecutors.

The result was a victory for the government following the mixed outcome last spring.

Croft, 46, a trucker from Bear, Delaware, was also convicted of another explosives charge.

The FBI turned it into a major domestic terrorism case with two more informants and two undercover agents embedded in the group.

Defense attorneys tried to put the FBI on trial, repeatedly emphasizing through cross-examination of witnesses and during closing remarks that federal players were present at every crucial event and had entrapped the men.

Whitmer, a Democrat, has blamed then-president Donald Trump for stoking mistrust and fomenting anger over coronavirus restrictions and refusing to condemn hate groups and rightwing extremists like those charged in the plot.