By Alyssa Guzman and Andrea Blanco For Dailymail.Com and Associated Press

Published: 23:42 EDT, 24 March 2022 | Updated: 11:16 EDT, 25 March 2022

A second insider-turned-government witness in the plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer told jurors that the group was prepared to use a grenade launcher and machine gun to fight security officers at her vacation home.

Kaleb Franks, 27, who pleaded guilty in February, told the jury about how Barry Croft Jr., 46, 'discussed attacking her security detail.'  

'He said he would use the grenade launcher that he had, and he was discussing mounting a machine gun on top of the truck,' Franks said Thursday in federal court in Grand Rapids.

Franks testimony came a day after fellow plotter and government witness Ty Garbin, 26, testified that Whitmer's kidnapping could serve as the 'ignition' for a US civil war involving antigovernment groups and possibly prevent the election of Joe Biden. 

'We wanted to cause as much a disruption as possible to prevent Joe Biden from getting into office. It didn't have to be,' Garbin said of striking before the election. 'It was just preferred.'  

Franks is expected back on the witness stand Friday for cross-examination in the government's case against Croft, Adam Fox, 38, Daniel Harris, 24, and Brandon Caserta, 33. 

Along with Franks and Garbin, the four were arrested in October 2020, a month before the national election. Garbin took a plea deal in exchange for his testimony against the four on trial and was sentenced to six years. 

Kaleb Franks, 27, (pictured) who pleaded guilty in February, told the jury about how Barry Croft Jr., 46, 'discussed attacking her security detail.' Franks said: 'He said he would use the grenade launcher that he had, and he was discussing mounting a machine gun on top of the truck' 

Franks seen in court on Thursday. Franks has not received a plea deal but is hoping that his testimony will give him a lighter sentencing 

Ty Garbin, 26, also testified this week and told the jury that Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's kidnapping could serve as the 'ignition' for a US civil war involving antigovernment groups and possibly prevent the election of Joe Biden

Garbin took a plea deal, sentencing him to six yeas, in exchange for his testimony against the other men

Franks, a drug rehabilitation coach, said he joined a militia, the Wolverine Watchmen, to work on his gun skills. He eventually met Fox and Croft, who were not members of the militia, and found himself in the middle of a conspiracy.

Franks said he stuck with the group because he hoped he would be killed in a shootout with police during the kidnapping but kept it from others.

'I no longer wanted to live,' he said, moments after settling into the witness chair. 'A large portion of my family had died. I was struggling financially. Just wasn't happy.'

Franks also said an alleged leader, Fox, believed Whitmer's COVID-19 restrictions were 'tyrannical' and that the US Constitution gave the men a right to strike back. He said no one was forced to stick with the plan and many people had dropped away by late summer 2020.

'I was going to be an operator,' Franks replied when asked by a prosecutor to describe his role in a kidnapping. 'I would be one of the people on the front line, so to speak, using my gun.'

He said Fox talked about snatching the governor 'every time I saw him.'

Whitmer, a Democrat, rarely talks publicly about the case. She has blamed former President Donald Trump for fomenting anger over coronavirus restrictions and refusing to condemn right-wing extremists like those charged in the case 

Brandon Caserta, 33, Barry Croft, 46, Adam Fox, 38, and Daniel Harris, 24, are on trial in plot to kidnap Whitmer 

Garbin explained the Whitmer scheme to jurors, taking them through days of training, secret messages and a late night trip to her weekend home.

He talked about how he built a 'shoot house' with wood, tarps and scrap materials so the men could practice an eventual assault.

The goal was 'to kidnap the governor,' Garbin told a prosecutor.

'There was no question in your mind that everybody knew?' Assistant US Attorney Nils Kessler asked.

'No question,' Garbin said.

Defense lawyers claim the men were entrapped by the government. Garbin, however, told jurors that he never heard anyone talk about being swayed by informants.

He said he invited the group to his property in Luther, Michigan, to train for a violent assault on Whitmer's second home. He put together a crude structure so the men could practice going in and out of tight spaces.

'I was kind of ballparking it,' Garbin said of the layout. 'Every house had a front door. Every house had a living room. Every house had a hallway. Every house had a back door.'

In September 2020, Garbin, Fox, Croft and others traveled to Elk Rapids in three vehicles for night surveillance of Whitmer's property. Garbin said his job was to find it and flash a light to others at a boat launch.

He said his ultimate assignment would be to 'perform the actual kidnapping.'

Authorities said the men were armed extremists who, after weeks of training, were trying to come up with $4,000 for an explosive. They practiced that summer by dashing in and out of crude structures built to resemble a house or office.

Traveling at night, they scouted Whitmer's second home in Elk Rapids in September 2020 and inspected a bridge that could be blown up to frustrate any police response, according to trial testimony and conversations that were secretly recorded.

A video of the men of training for the kidnapping scheme  

Defense attorneys are trying to show the jury that there was no credible plot, just a lot of profane, violent and crazy talk about Whitmer and other politicians trampling their rights during the COVID-19 pandemic. They also claim informants and undercover agents who infiltrated the group entrapped the men.

Garbin, an airplane mechanic, began cooperating with prosecutors soon after the group was arrested. He was rewarded with a relatively light six-year prison sentence, a term that could be reduced after the trial. Franks hasn't been sentenced yet but is also hoping for a break.

Whitmer, a Democrat, rarely talks publicly about the case, though she referred to 'surprises' during her term that seem like 'something out of fiction' when she filed for reelection on March 17.

She has blamed former President Donald Trump for fomenting anger over coronavirus restrictions and refusing to condemn right-wing extremists like those charged in the case. Whitmer has said Trump was complicit in the January 6 Capitol riot.

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Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd

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