GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. • The four men charged with planning to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer were swayed by informants and federal agents who targeted them for their anti-government views, defense attorneys said Wednesday, portraying the men as big talkers and wannabes who never meant what they said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Roth argued that the men were “willing, eager, if not already preparing” to get Whitmer before investigators infiltrated the group. He said the men — angry about COVID-19 restrictions the Democratic governor imposed early in the pandemic — recruited militia and prepared to break into Whitmer’s home, tie her up and take her.

Investigators stepped in and stopped a “tragedy” when the men were planning to acquire a bomb to blow up a bridge near Whitmer’s home to stop police from quickly responding, Roth told jurors during his opening statement in federal court in Grand Rapids, Mich.

“These were not people who were all talk,” he said. “These were people who wanted to separate themselves from people who were all talk.”

Four men face trial: Adam Fox, Brandon Caserta, Barry Croft Jr. and Daniel Harris.

They’re accused of taking critical steps over several months, including secret messaging, gun drills in the woods and a night drive to northern Michigan to scout Whitmer’s second home and figure out how to blow up the bridge.

After the prosecutor and three of four defense lawyers made opening statements, the U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker took the unusual step of allowing them to speak again to specifically address an entrapment defense — a claim that the government induced the men to commit crimes that they wouldn’t otherwise have committed.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer addresses the state during a speech in Lansing, Mich., in October 2020.

the associated press file