text: Attorney General Barr stays in background after Michigan arrests :: WRAL.com
  Published: 2020-10-09 18:20:59
  Updated: 2020-10-09 18:20:59
  Posted October 9, 2020 6:20 p.m. EDT
  By Evan Perez and Christina Carrega, CNN
  CNN — The arrest of 13 men who allegedly plotted to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is the latest in a string of right-wing alleged violent threats at a time Attorney General William Barr and President Donald Trump have sought to highlight alleged left-wing violence.
  The FBI and the Michigan US attorneys announced charges against six of the men for conspiracy to kidnap, and seven other people, associated with a group called "Wolverine Watchmen," are facing state charges.
  The attorney general typically weighs in on high-profile cases, however, often with quotes in Justice Department press releases on charges. The announcement of the charges didn't include any comment from Barr.
  During an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett on Thursday evening, Whitmer questioned whether Barr was aware of the planned hit that his agencies were investigating aggressively since at least June.
  "If he didn't (know), he's incompetent," Whitmer said.
  The Michigan plot would be the latest in a string of serious right-wing violent threats or events that Barr has been noticeably more circumspect about, a suspect in the shooting deaths of two officers in California and the arrest of three Las Vegas residents who are alleged members of the "Boogaloo" movement, while he uses highly torqued rhetoric about antifa and alleged left wing violence.
  Last month, Barr demanded that federal and state prosecutors vigorously charge riot-related defendants with the rarely-used sedation law, that would make it a crime to conspire to overthrow the government. None of the defendants in Thursday's operation were charged with sedition.
  Among other things, a federal criminal complaint says the alleged scheme included plans to overthrow several state governments that the suspects "believe are violating the US Constitution," including the government of Michigan and Whitmer.
  Whitmer has said the "attempted act of domestic terrorism against a sitting governor has no place in a lawful and civil society and we condemn it in the strongest terms."