Gretchen Whitmer Says She Thinks About Her Safety 'Everywhere I Go' in Wake of Attempted Kidnapping

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says she still fears for her family's safety almost three years after the FBI became aware of a scheme to overthrow the state government, kidnap her at her vacation home, and detonate explosives to disrupt police responding to the abduction.

"My whole family's made sacrifices [in the name of safety]," Whitmer, a Democrat, said in an interview with Who's Talking to Chris Wallace? which will air Friday and was shared exclusively with PEOPLE.

Whitmer was the target of ire from former President Donald Trump, who repeatedly, and publicly, criticized the Democrat both before and after the attempted attack, which was thwarted in Oct. 2020.

At that time, the FBI said it had become aware of the alleged scheme targeting Whitmer through social media, according to a criminal complaint. Officials alleged that six individuals plotted the "violent overthrow of certain government and law-enforcement components" that they believe were "violating the U.S. Constitution."

Members of the alleged conspiracy conducted coordinated surveillance on Whitmer's vacation home and attempted to obtain the addresses of local law-enforcement officers, according to the complaint. Authorities also claimed that several suspects participated in firearms training and attempted to construct an improvised explosive device.

More than a dozen people were arrested and charged for their alleged involvement in the plot.

Speaking to Wallace, Whitmer recounted the day the attack was thwarted. "My girls, I remember we were all home and there were people with long guns on the front lawn, right outside the gate. And they came out and they said, 'Whats going on?' And you could hear it — the vitriol and the ugliness."

In August 2022, a federal jury in Grand Rapids convicted two men — Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. — of kidnapping conspiracy and conspiracy to possess weapons of mass destruction in connection with the plot. Croft was also convicted on an additional weapons charge, Detroit Free Press reported.

The men, who'll be sentenced at a later date, face up to life in prison.

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Now, more than two years later, Whitmer told Wallace she still worries about her safety—and Trump, she added, is part of that.

"I think about [being in danger]everywhere I go," Whitmer said. "The former president made me a target and threw a lot of gas on the fire and it has continued to burn. And I think about it everywhere I go."

She continued: "There are times when I am in public — and I've got the greatest state police detail in the world — but there are big crowds sometimes, and it does cross my mind."

New episodes of Who's Talking to Chris Wallace? are available Fridays on HBO Max, and air Sundays at 7 p.m. Eastern on CNN.