>"Big Dan" was no passive spectator: After initially alerting the authorities that he was involved in a Facebook group for militia members in which violence against police officers had been discussed, he agreed to become an informant. The government paid him $54,000 for six months' work. When the militia group surveilled Whitmer's vacation home, it was Big Dan leading the charge. According to the group's defense attorneys, Big Dan—an Iraq War veteran—took charge of training the other men in military tactics. https://reason.com/2022/01/26/gretchen-whitmer-kidnapping-plot-entrapment-fbi-trial/