President Trump says he will consider pardoning two men convicted of plotting to kidnap Governor Whitmer in 2020. The president’s new pardon attorney claimed in a podcast interview last week that his office was studying the case because he felt like the FBI entrapped the men into cooking up the scheme. 

“I’m gonna look at it. I will take a look at it. It’s been brought to my attention,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon. The two men convicted in the case, Adam Fox and Barry Croft, are each serving lengthy prison sentences after their trial was concluded in 2022. 

“It looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job, I’ll be honest with you. It looked to me like some people said some stupid things,” Mr. Trump said, likely referring to video and audio recordings played for the jury that showed Fox and Croft actively discussing their scheme to kidnap the governor. 

“A lot of people think they got railroaded,” Mr. Trump added. 

The president’s pardon attorney, Ed Martin — who was actively involved in defending several individuals charged with rioting at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 — says he believes Fox and Croft were victims of FBI entrapment. He called the plan to kidnap Ms. Whitmer a “fed-napping.”

“I think that the question of Michigan and what went on with this ‘fed-napping’ question is one that falls into two categories,” Mr. Martin said in a podcast interview last week. “One, I agree with you that there’s a weaponization of government — very, very suspect, the timing, how it was rolled out, what exactly went on, and we need to get to the bottom of that. Yes, that’s in my weaponization working group as a topic.”

Fox and Croft are considered the ringleaders of the plan to take Ms. Whitmer hostage and hold a trial for her at an undisclosed location. At the actual trial, several witnesses testified that ultimately the goal was to execute the governor for her pandemic lockdown measures. 

Mr. Martin says Fox, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison, and Croft, who was sentenced to more than 19 years in prison, deserve to be released because several other plotters were FBI informants. At the time, federal law enforcement was infiltrating militia groups across the country. 

“On the pardon front, we can’t leave these guys behind,” Mr. Martin said in the podcast interview. “In my opinion, these guys are victims just like January 6th” defendants.

“The FBI was so unworthy of our trust, they were so dishonorable during … the Biden years,” he added. “There’s very little that I will take at face value from the FBI.”