SPY GAMES

Feds Hid Spy Gadgets in Key Fobs to Record Michigan Guv’s Would-Be Kidnappers

Lawyers for the defense are fighting to play the recordings in the upcoming trial, saying they will prove the government entrapped the five men arrested for the plot.

Federal agents hid spyware in key fobs to record the men suspected of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer—and lawyers for the accused are now fighting to play those recordings in an upcoming trial, according to a Monday court filing. A defense lawyer for accused ringleader Adam Fox argued that the spy gadgets’ contents will prove their case for government entrapment, showing a lack of conspiracy among the five men awaiting federal trial. Prosecutors have said the FBI captured more than 1,000 hours of secretly recorded conversations and videos. Monday’s filing, according to The Detroit News, also shed further light on Stephen Robeson, an informant indicted for actively breaking laws while helping the FBI build their case over the course of a year. Federal investigators have since tried to publicly distance themselves from Robeson. But the FBI, Fox’s lawyer wrote, gave Robeson “his recording device, taught him how to use it, and how to properly record an event with timestamping and the like for forensic purposes.” Consequently, the lawyer added later, any argument that Robeson “was not acting as an agent of the government should be firmly rejected.”