Defense rests after challenging agents in Whitmer plot trial

By ED WHITE
Associated Press

Defense lawyers have rested their case in the trial of two men charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan’s governor. Closing arguments are scheduled for Monday in federal court in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Lawyers for Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. called investigators to the witness stand Friday to try to raise questions about their tactics back in 2020 and highlight scornful attitudes. Fox and Croft are on trial for a second time after a jury in April couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict. John Penrod is a Delaware state trooper who worked on the case with the FBI. He was confronted with text messages in which he called Croft a “coward” and other pejoratives. The defense argues that Fox and Croft were entrapped by agents and informants who fed their wild anti-government views.