A jury convicted two men of conspiring to kidnap Michigan's governor in 2020 in a plot prosecutors described as a rallying cry for a U.S. civil war by anti-government extremists.
Two of four men were acquitted Friday in a conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, motivated by fury at the Democrat's tough COVID-19 restrictions early in the pandemic.
The six men had already been charged in a criminal complaint at the time of their arrest in October, but the federal grand jury indictment enables the U.S. Justice Department to proceed with the case.
Atlas is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a conservative-leaning think tank based at the university. He's currently on leave while he works as an adviser to President Trump.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued a "three-week pause" to curb coronavirus cases in the state. A Trump administration official encouraged residents to "rise up" against the restrictions.
"I'll be honest, I never could have imagined anything like this," Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says. Over the summer, conspirators allegedly began training for a potential attack.
The state's Supreme Court said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer lacked the authority to extend a state of emergency past April 30. Whitmer had cited two state laws in extending her emergency declarations.