Northam Was Also a Target of Anti-Government Plot to Kidnap Whitmer

Mr. Trask said that some of the suspects held a meeting in Dublin, Ohio, several months ago in which they “discussed possible targets” for “taking a sitting governor.”

The F.B.I. alerted

members of Mr. Northam’s security team throughout its investigation, Alena Yarmosky, Mr. Northam’s press secretary, said in a statement. The governor was not informed, “per security protocols,” Ms. Yarmosky said, but added that “at no time was the governor or his family in imminent danger.”

Last spring, critics denounced Ms. Whitmer, a Democrat, for her March 24 lockdown, particularly since the stay-at-home orders for rural Michigan, with relatively few cases of Covid-19, were the same as those for Detroit and other cities. Conservative and anti-government groups in Michigan were the among the first in the country to organize protests against coronavirus restrictions.

In Virginia, Mr. Northam, also a Democrat, issued a similar order on March 30, instructing residents to leave their homes only for work, medical attention, family care, shopping for essentials and outdoor activity “with strict social distancing requirements.” Mr. Northam started reopening much of Virginia on May 15, but as cases rose again over the summer, he put into place restrictions on bars, restaurants and public gatherings.