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Revolver News was the very first outlet to draw attention to the striking and damning parallels between the so-called Michigan Kidnapping Plot and the January 6th Fedsurrection. Indeed, the Michigan entrapment fiasco was a central pillar of our path-breaking piece, now three years old, introducing the likelihood of federal involvement on January 6th.
Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. Though it is commonly called a “kidnapping plot,” the Michigan plot also involved plans to storm the State Capitol in Michigan. The Michigan plot involved the Three Percenters, one of the three main militia groups also imputed to January 6th. And much like we now know about January 6th, the Michigan plot was absolutely saturated with informants and undercover agents. Of the fourteen individuals involved in the alleged plot, at least five were either undercover agents or informants—that’s nearly a 50% infiltration ratio!
It doesn’t help, of course, that the man who oversaw this entrapment travesty as head of the Detroit FBI Field Office was quickly promoted by Christopher Wray to run Washington, D.C.’s FBI Field Office in the months leading up to and after January 6th. This individual, called Steven D’Antuono, ended up being the public face of the now entirely discredited (and continually unfolding) January 6 pipe bomb investigation (again, as Revolver was the first to report). What are the chances!?
But what is particularly striking and scandalous about the Michigan Plot is not simply the extent of government infiltration, but the nature of it. The government’s informants were not simply sitting by passively observing a terrorist plot in the making; an overwhelming majority of evidence shows that the government and its agents were the key active instigators and initiators of every major advancement of this so-called plot, amounting to an entrapment operation of the most flagrant sort imaginable. Just to recap from our previous reporting, the following are just some of the steps actively undertaken by the government’s informants in this case:
A look at the annotated indictment reveals that at every level of the [Michigan Kidnapping] plot, FBI operatives played the most important leadership roles:
-The plot’s “explosives expert,” who the plotters were accused of planning to buy bombs from, turned out to be an FBI agent.
-The head of transportation for the militia outfit turned out to be an undercover FBI agent.
-The head of security for the militia outfit turned out to be an undercover FBI informant.
-At least two undercover FBI informants were active participants in the initial June 6, 2020 meeting in which the plot to storm Capitol buildings was allegedly hatched — meaning at least three FBI informants infiltrated before the conspiracy even started.
Unindicted Co-Conspirators in 1/6 Cases Raise Disturbing Questions of Federal Foreknowledge
In one of the plot’s climactic scenes, in the main van driving up to look at Governor Whitmer’s vacation home, three out of the five people in the van—60 percent of the plot’s senior leaders—were federal agents and informants:
31. FOX, CROFT, CHS-2, a UCE, and an individual from Wisconsin traveled in the first vehicle. While in the vehicle, CROFT and FOX discussed detonating explosive devices to divert police from the area of the vacation home. They stopped at the M-31 highway bridge on the way, where FOX and the UCE inspected the underside of the bridge for places to seat an explosive charge. FOX took a picture of the bridge’s support structure, which he later shared with CHS-2 in their encrypted chat. From there, they drove to a public boat launch across the lake from the vacation home to watch for the other cars in their group.
You may be wondering how you get “three out of five” when the DOJ’s complaint only acknowledges two undercover FBI operatives: UCE (meaning “Undercover Employee,” or full-time agent) and CSH-2.
That is because the FBI went to great lengths to hide their affiliation with the fifth person in the van, describing him only as “an individual from Wisconsin.” It turns out that this individual is Steve Robeson, who had been penetrating right-wing and patriot militia groups for over 35 years. We were able to report that Robeson was the “individual from Wisconsin” due to the fact that in November 2020, one month after the October 2020 indictment was filed, Steve Robeson blew his cover by spilling on a livestream: “I am the individual from Wisconsin.”
A careful look at the Michigan case reveals that Robeson in particular took an active step in nearly all of the key development points of the Michigan plot. This “individual” allegedly organized the initial June 6, 2020, meeting in Dublin, Ohio, where the entire Michigan Plot was allegedly hatched. He even allegedly paid for the attendees’ hotel rooms to travel there.
It’s no wonder, then, that the government did everything in its power to prevent Robeson’s identity as an informant from coming out and sabotaging their carefully crafted entrapment operation. And sure enough, shortly after Robeson reluctantly blew his cover on the aforementioned live stream, the government hit Robeson with a gun charge and accused him of being a “double agent.” Note that in addition to his criminal history in a motorcycle gang, Robeson had been convicted of sex crimes and was thus not allowed to possess or use firearms.
We noted the suspicious circumstances of this charge and the tremendous lengths the government went to at trial to prevent the jury and defense from learning about Robeson’s role as an informant:
In a possible preview of what might come for some of the unindicted co-conspirators in 1/6, the FBI-DOJ burned Robeson, their own secret informant, by hitting the man they paid to infiltrate patriot groups with a 10-year charge for owning a gun (as a convicted child molester, he was not allowed to own a gun, which the FBI obviously knew in advance). Perhaps this is the price that Robeson paid for blowing his cover?
There is a fascinating moment in the October 14 preliminary hearing where Detroit FBI Field Office Special Agent Richard Trask brings personal notes to the stand, which he only consults when talking about key events concerning the “individual from Wisconsin”. When questioned on cross-examination about the contents of the notes and why they weren’t disclosed to defense counsel, Special Agent Trask says his admits his notes were prepped in a joint meeting the night before between the FBI and DOJ. When defense counsel Mr. Graham motions the judge for a copy of the notes, DOJ prosecutor Mr. Kessler rushes in to specify that defense counsel will only get a redacted version of the notes because they relate to unindicted co-conspirators and concealed-identity informants.
Thanks to a recent report at the Intercept building upon our research, we now know the government went to greater lengths than previously imagined to prevent the uncomfortable truth of Robeson’s role in the Michigan plot from spoiling their case. The Intercept obtained leaked audio of an FBI interrogation of Robeson in which the key agents in charge explicitly threaten Robeson, reminding him of their leverage, and direct him to lie and withhold information in order to prevent the defense from mounting an entrapment case. Remarkably, these recordings were never allowed into evidence in any of the Michigan trials.
The Intercept (emphasis ours):
So on December 10, 2020, agents called Robeson into the FBI’s office in Milwaukee in an apparent attempt to silence him. In an extraordinary five-hour conversation, which FBI agents recorded, one of Robeson’s handlers told him: “A saying we have in my office is, ‘Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story,’ right?” Despite federal and state trials involving the kidnapping plot, this recording — which goes to the heart of questions about whether the FBI entrapped the would-be kidnappers — was never allowed into evidence. The Intercept exclusively obtained the full recording and is publishing key portions for the first time.
The FBI agents asked Robeson to sign a nondisclosure agreement and proceeded to coach and threaten him to shape his story and ensure that he would never testify before a jury. Their coercion of Robeson undermines the Justice Department’s claim, in court records, that Robeson was a “double agent” whose actions weren’t under the government’s control. The agents also made it clear that they had leverage: They knew Robeson had committed crimes while working for the FBI.
“We know we have power, right?” an FBI agent told Robeson during this meeting. “We know we have leverage. We’re not going to bullshit you.”
We also learn that Robeson’s active involvement in the Michigan plot is even more extensive than previously known. For instance, recall the reconnaissance mission to Gov. Whitmer’s home, in which 60% of those participating were agents or informants (including Robeson). It turns out that Robeson even lied to one of the participants, saying that they were searching for pedophiles rather than driving by the Governor’s house!
The FBI handlers in the case, of course, encouraged Robeson to revise his version of events, which could be inconvenient to their case against the defendant in question.
The Intercept (emphasis ours):
But true to form, Robeson mucked up the evidence. Fellow Wisconsinite Brian Higgins was the one who drove past Whitmer’s home — a seemingly incriminating act — but Higgins later told federal agents that Robeson had said they were hunting for sexual predators. In his December meeting with FBI agents, Robeson confirmed that Higgins was not initially aware of the kidnapping plot and instead believed they were out “hunting pedophiles.”
But once he was in Michigan, Higgins learned that some of the attendees had a rough plan to kidnap Whitmer. Higgins drove down Whitmer’s road using a dash camera and provided the video to Chappel. After he returned to Wisconsin, Higgins claims he told Robeson he didn’t want to be involved in the plot.The FBI’s own informant was telling a man he thought was the target of an investigation to destroy evidence.
During the December 10, 2020, recorded interview with Robeson, Impola tried to coerce the informant into changing his story about what Higgins knew before the drive: “If you’re sticking with the story that [Higgins] was out there on a pedophile ring,” the FBI special agent said, “you’ll be his star witness in the defense. There’s zero options for that.”
In another memorable anecdote from the Intercept piece, Steve Robeson set up and paid for a training facility in which the entrapment victims could engage in paramilitary training. Yet another informant called “Dan Chappel” invited an FBI agent to the training compound to pose as an “explosives expert.” This undercover agent, “Red,” showed a prepared FBI video about explosives to the hapless entrapment victims. Interestingly enough, one of the videos “Red” showed to the group was a pipe bomb demonstration.
The case of Steve Robeson offers a glimpse into the dark dealings of an FBI gone completely rogue and underscores some important points. Robeson’s longstanding relationship with the FBI as an informant and as a criminal in a motorcycle gang underscores the shadowy intersection between the criminal underworld and the deep state. Indeed, the FBI and CIA are known to offer protection to underworld figures in exchange for information and cooperation. Just as reliable as the government’s cooperation with underworld figures is the practice of burning such informants and sources when the assets become liabilities, as was the case with Robeson. Of course, Robeson wasn’t the first and won’t be the last government asset burned by the government. Something similar famously happened to ATF informant Carol Howe in the Oklahoma City Bombing case (a very troubling rabbit hole to go down, we assure you). Specifically, we see that the government’s preferred means of burning an asset is accusing them of going rogue or becoming a double agent—precisely what we see in the case of Robeson.
Another thing that Robeson underscores is just how fake and federally penetrated the militia movement is. Recall the three main militia groups imputed to January 6th: the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, and the Three Percenters. It is well known that the Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio has a history as an FBI informant; it came out during the January 6 hearings that the Vice President of the Oathkeepers was an FBI informant; as for the Three Percenters, Robeson had long positioned himself as the head of the Wisconsin chapter and then became head of the national chapter. All three militia groups were federally penetrated at the very top, and that means that the American people get screwed!
Robeson is not the only federal asset to get burned under highly scandalous circumstances. In the coming weeks, we will report on a still more explosive story of a law enforcement agent who was clearly “burned” and indicted in order to protect the Fed’s carefully guarded secrets involving January 6th. This and much more are coming soon. Stay tuned.
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