FBI informant testifies, feds fight entrapment claim in Whitmer trial


GRAND RAPIDS — “Big Dan,” the post office contractor whose testimony was heavily scrutinized in the first trial of a group of men charged with conspiring to kidnap the governor, returned to the witness stand Monday as prosecutors continue to make their case against the two defendants standing trial for a second time. 

Dan, a confidential source who tipped the FBI to the alleged conspiracy, told U.S. Assistant Attorney Nils Kessler that it was Adam Fox, not himself, who was the driving force behind the group’s meetings, training events and “recon” trips to Elk Rapids, where Fox, Dan and another individual drove past and took video of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s vacation home. 

Dan, 35, a former U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq, told jurors how he joined the militia, then began to fear they were going to kill cops, told a cop friend about it and begrudgingly agreed to go undercover for the FBI.

‘They were training to target law enforcement’

He said he initially feared going undercover due to safety concerns for his young daughter, but did it anyway because he feared for the lives of police officers, saying the militia members were looking for the addresses of various cops.

“They were training to target law enforcement to kill them,” Dan testified. “I had no idea what these individuals were capable of.”





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