DOJ official eyes pardons for Whitmer kidnap plotters

Barry Croft and Adam Fox, the men convicted of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the summer of 2020, could be on a list for potential presidential pardons, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s new pardon attorney.

The comments came from Ed Martin Jr., a conservative activist who had been nominated as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia before having his nomination withdrawn earlier this year. Martin is now a pardon attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Appearing on a conservative podcast last week, Martin said that the administration of President Donald Trump “can’t leave” Croft and Fox “behind.”

Martin also called Croft and Fox “victims” and likened their cases to the criminal charges that were brought against the January 6 Capitol insurrectionists, the Associated Press reported. Trump pardoned more than 1,500 defendants charged in the Capitol attack on his first day back in office.

A message seeking comment from Whitmer’s office was not immediately returned.

Conservative activists and conspiracy theorists have long alluded to the plot against Whitmer as a federal government-led operation to entrap the participants, but numerous pieces of evidence shown in court detailed the breadth of Croft and Fox’s involvement in spearheading the plan and recruiting others to join in the plot – including eventually an informant working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Martin appears to be among those who viewed the prosecution of Croft and Fox as the weaponization of the federal government, a running theme in the Trump White House. Martin on the podcast vowed to take a hard look at their cases in his new role. Both Croft and Fox are serving nearly 20-year prison terms in a high security federal prison located in Colorado.

Several other men were charged with conspiracy to kidnap Whitmer but were either acquitted of or pleaded guilty to the crimes.

Croft and Fox attempted to appeal their convictions, but the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the federal district court’s decision.