It was a tense morning on the stand for the girlfriend of Barry Croft as she had to testify about some potentially damning words that her boyfriend made while being secretly recorded by the FBI — words that were eventually shared with the jury in the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnap trial.
The audio recording captured Croft, who is accused of building explosives to help carry out the kidnap plan, talking to his 10-year-old daughter as she interrupted his militia group meeting.
“Daddy … do you want a Dorito?” the girl asked.
“Honey, I’m making explosives, can you get away from me please?” Croft is heard telling his daughter while his alleged cohorts laughed in the background.
Croft’s girlfriend, who is currently taking care of his three children while he remains jailed in the kidnap case, heard the conversation. When the prosecutor asked her if she remembered which daughter Croft was talking to, she paused, then struggled to get the words out.
“It was Amber,” she said through tears as she identified Croft’s youngest daughter.
The girlfriend was among the last government witnesses to testify for the prosecution, which rested its case Wednesday morning following testimony from FBI forensic examiners about materials found in Croft’s home, including smokeless powder and explosive targets. One examiner said the materials could easily be used to make an improvised explosive device.
The girlfriend’s voice trembled all morning as she testified as a government witness in a case that could send her boyfriend to prison for life. She was slow to take her seat as U.S. Assistant Prosecutor Nils Kessler began his direct examination.
“I know you’re a little nervous, so take your time,” Kessler said.
The girlfriend is 40-year-old Chasity Knight, who testified about her time with Croft and what she saw at the home they shared together in Delaware. She talked about Croft’s podcast, which she described as raising awareness on constitutional rights, the “Expect Us” and “We The People” tattoos Croft has on his forearms. She also mentioned his love of fireworks, and his disdain for government.
“He didn’t like the government, he was anti-government,” Knight testified. “He just thought the government doesn’t help the people out, (that) they just like to line their own pockets.”
Knight also testified about the day Croft allegedly built explosives that didn’t work.
According to prior FBI testimony, Croft and co-defendant Daniel Harris tried twice one day to detonate homemade explosives, but failed both times.
Knight was there when this happened, though couldn’t recall specifics.
“I can just recall a big boom,” she testified.
When asked where Croft was when this happened, she said: “He was walking away from where I was … (Harris) was walking away with Barry.”
Prosecutors offered the Knight’s testimony to bolster its claim that the suspects plotted to blow up a bridge near Whitmer’s vacation house to slow down law enforcement.
More:FBI agent: Whitmer kidnap plot ringleader ordered bombs from me, but asked for IOU
More:How Facebook rants helped the feds build the Whitmer kidnap case
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler asked the woman if she ever heard Kessler talk about a “Second American Revolution,” or using force against the government.
“No — I didn’t hear him say this,” she answered.
The woman also testified that she talked to Croft about the importance of voting, and recalled telling him: “I think we should vote in order to get things to change.”
The prosecutor asked her if she told Croft that change doesn’t come with guns.
She didn’t recall telling him that, she said, noting only that “He doesn’t vote.”
They ended the voting conversation by agreeing to disagree, she said.
During the trial, jurors have heard numerous anti-government rants made by Croft, who fell on the FBI’s radar over his Facebook postings that prosecutors say called for violence against the government.
“I want to hurt people. I want to burn houses down and blow things up. Burn a family to the ground. I am going to do it. Murder and killing,” Croft is heard saying in a recording played for the jury. “I might murder a cop, put his uniform on and murder feds. I am not being hypothetical.”
U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker offered Knight a break before defense attorneys began cross examination, though Knight elected to continue.
On cross examination, Harris’s lawyer, Julia Kelly, asked the Knight if she saw anything her client’s hand on the day of the explosion.
“No,” the woman answered.
“I have nothing further,,” the defense lawyer said.
Croft’s attorney, Joshua Blanchard, also cross examined Knight and asked her about brain surgery she had a few years ago, noting this surgery impacted her memory and that’s why she may not remember details.
Blanchard also asked Knight about Croft’s use of marijuana — a topic that has come up repeatedly during trial, with defense lawyers arguing the defendants were stoned most of the time and could not be taken seriously.
Knight said Croft smoked marijuana everyday, at least twice a day, and that he smoked in social settings.
Knight also testified about meeting a woman named Jenny Plunk, who was really an undercover informant in the case and traveled to Delaware, where Knight and Croft went out to dinner with her and hung out.
According to prior testimony, Plunk went undercover to help keep Croft on the feds’ radar as the FBI learned that the group was planning to kick Croft out because they believed he wanted to act quicker than they did.
The government argues that Plunk sought to keep Croft in the group because the FBI worried he could act alone if he was cut off, though the defense argues that Croft and the others were entrapped and enticed by FBI agents who knew they had no case, and that Plunk was part of that plan.
But Plunk was not alone when she visited Croft in Delaware.
According to Knight’s testimony, another man was there, too. She knew him as Steve Robeson, who was also an undercover informant.
According to court records, Robeson was fired from the case in October 2020 after the FBI discovered that he was allegedly working to help the defendants pursue their kidnapping plan.
The prosecution, which has dubbed Robeson a “double agent,” has not used him as a witness at trial, though the defense wants to force him to testify as their witness.
Robeson has stated that he will plead the Fifth if forced to testify, and that he could actually cause the defendants more harm than good if he takes the stand.
After Knight’s testimony, the government called a pair of FBI forensic examiners to testify about the smokeless powder and explosive targets found in Croft’s home, including smokeless powder and explosive targets.
Before resting its case, jurors were shown a video of the FBI detonating a device with the same materials found in Croft’s home. In a slow-motion video, a fireball of around 3-4 feet could be seen exploding near a paper target.
The defense has argued that the defendants were merely blowing off steam, and that they were engaged in puffery and tough talk, with no real plan to harm anyone.
But the prosecution argues the defendants didn’t just talk about explosives — they also tinkered with them and tried to buy them, which is how they got arrested in an FBI sting 18 months ago, when they allegedly tried to make a down payment on explosives only to get handcuffed instead.
Testimony continues.
Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com
