Michigan

After the FBI issued a warning of potential violence in all 50 state capitals ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on January 29, state officials are preparing for potentialyl armed and violent protests. National Guard forces have been activated in California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Florida. Washington, DC is bracing for further violent protests following the attack on the US Capitol earlier this month.

A federal grand jury has indicted six men – Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta – with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the U.S. attorney’s office for western Michigan said on Thursday. Harris's lawyer, Parker Douglas, stated his client pleaded guilty as "there was no actual conspiracy to kidnap Governor Whitmer."

Representative Paul Mitchell of Michigan has quit the Republican Party over its refusal to accept a defeat in the US election, he said in a statement posted to Twitter on Monday.

"It is unacceptable for political candidates to treat our election system as though we are a third- world nation and incite distrust of something so basic as the sanctity of our vote. Further, it is unacceptable for the president to attack the Supreme Court of the United States because its judges, both liberal and conservative, did not rule with his side or that "the Court failed him." It was our Founding Fathers' objective to insulate the Supreme Court from such blatant political motivations," so Mitchell.

Rudy Giuliani has been put in charge of the Trump campaign's legal challenges contesting the outcome of the 2020 election, the New York Times reports. Citing four people familiar with the matter, Giuliani is now responsible for overseeing the lawsuits to throw out ballots and turn around Trump's election loss. President Trump's lawsuits to delay or block the election result were turned aside in cases in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona

The Trump campaign has stated that it has filed a lawsuit in Michigan, demanding the state "to halt counting until meaningful access has been granted", stating that it "has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process, as guaranteed by Michigan law."

In the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, the former vice president Joe Biden leads Donald Trump 54% to 43% among likely voters. It's the highest difference between both candidates since this poll began testing the Biden-Trump matchup in February.

In 2016, Donald Trump had 46% of the votes nationally but clinched a victory in key states in the Electoral College. The current poll shows Biden ahead in several key states, including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Six people were arrested Thursday morning in a raid over the alleged plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. According to the FBI, the group had been planning the plot since June.

They had surveilled Whitmer's vacation home in August and September, and according to the FBI, they indicated that they wanted to take her hostage before the presidential election in November.

Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, Brandon Caserta, and Ty Garbin were taken into custody in a raid on a house in suburban Detroit on Thursday morning

During the protests against the death of George Floyd a 19-year-old protesting man has been shot. During the night time protests in Detroit, Michigan shots have been fired into a crowd of protestors, killing the man. So far it's unclear who was shooting.

The Michigan state health department has started a free condom by mail program during the Covid-19 crisis. The department has previously distributed condoms directly to government buildings and bars where they were handed out for free. Orders can be placed via email and will be shipped for free. According to Lynn Sutfin, spokeswoman of the state's health department, "each recipient will receive 10 condoms and 10 packets lubricant in a plain mailer".