A former Marine accused of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer testified on his own behalf on Thursday, repeatedly denying his role in the 2020 scheme to violently overthrow the government.
But 24-year-old Daniel Harris’ decision to take the stand may have just jeopardized his defense strategy, which is grounded in the argument that FBI agents and a “double agent” informant actually orchestrated the conspiracy and entrapped the group.
“You never know what a jury is going to do, but I think it was a risky move that will blow up in the defense’s face because Harris was not credible and his testimony was inconsistent with their other arguments,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told The Daily Beast on Thursday.
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Harris was the only defendant on federal trial in Grand Rapids to take the stand, where he repeatedly answered “absolutely not” when asked whether he planned to kidnap the Democratic lawmaker in October 2020. Moments later, the Wolverine Watchmen member went so far as to call an FBI informant “a bitch” while denying his participation in the conspiracy.
Shortly after Harris testified, the defense for all four men rested their case.
The four defendants—which also include Adam Fox, Barry Croft, and Brandon Caserta—have pleaded not guilty to several charges, including kidnapping conspiracy, in a case that roiled the country just weeks ahead of a presidential election that was marred by fears of right-wing violence.
Prosecutors allege that after months of planning, the group of armed, far-right militiamen planned to ambush and kidnap Whitmer as part of a scheme that included detonating a bridge to prevent cops from rescuing her. They then allegedly planned to put her on trial for “treason.”
“I didn’t even know about a bridge, nobody told me,” Harris said on Thursday.
Defense attorneys for the four defendants have long argued that their clients were coaxed by former FBI informants into plotting to kidnap Whitmer—and that the group was simply engaging in “tough talk” online. (For their part, at least three FBI agents who had integral roles in the investigation were not called on the stand after a flurry of scandal, including one who was charged with domestic violence against his wife, allegedly tied to a dispute about an orgy.)
On Thursday, Harris insisted that he never agreed or was swayed to storm the Capitol or kidnap Whitmer. He also denied a series of allegations that were previously made on the stand by FBI agents, informants, and even two of his former militia members that have testified against him. One former group member, who has since pleaded guilty, said he agreed to kidnap the governor while on a hike with a group previously described as the “Three Musketeers.”
“I’m not French. I would not call myself a Three Musketeer,” Harris said on Thursday before denying again he agreed to kidnap Whitmer.
Harris told jurors he was a talented infantryman who knew how to handle grenades and joined the group to “drink beer, shoot guns, and talk about girls.” He also took the opportunity to bash his fellow defendants, describing Croft as a “stoner pirate” who was “kind of a wacknut” to jurors.
Later, Harris admitted to building a failed explosive device with Croft and setting it off. “I was putting BB’s and a little bit of gunpowder into this balloon, and we were going to blow up a stove,” Harris added. “We put it in a stove. We lit the fuse and we ran.”
Rahmani noted that while the defense’s decision to use an entrapment argument makes the most strategic sense—it is now in jeopardy because Harris’ testimony did not seem to refute prosecutorial witness testimony and recordings that were played to jurors during the trial.
“It was also inconsistent with the defense’s entrapment defense. On one hand, Harris argued that he just created an explosive device to blow up a stove and did not agree to kidnap the governor,” the former prosecutor noted. “On the other hand, his attorneys argued that [an FBI informant] was the ringleader who encouraged Harris to agree to things he had no propensity to do.”
Prosecutors also tried to point to the inconsistencies in the defense’s argument and Harris’ testimony, eventually getting the former Marine to admit on the stand he texted about ways to assassinate Whitmer. Harris, however, insisted the texts were went as a way of “calling out” other members of his chat group.
“You proposed doming her? Meaning, shooting her in the head,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Roth asked on Thursday.
“Correct,” Harris replied.
