Prosecutor: Some Militias Are Fine, But Hutaree ‘Crossed The Line’

Members of the Michigan militia Hutaree (clockwise from top-left): David Stone, Sr., Tina Stone, David Stone, Jr., Jacob Ward, Joshua Clough, Michael Meeks, Kristopher Sickles and Thomas Piatek
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The federal prosecutor who brought charges against members of the Hutaree Christian militia tells CNN that authorities are fine with “peaceful” militias in Michigan, but Hutaree “really crossed the line.”

“They advocated that government was their enemy and that federal, state and local police officers were their foot soldiers and they refer to them as ‘The Brotherhood,'” said Barbara McQuade, U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Michigan, in an interview with CNN.

“[A]and they needed to attack the brotherhood because it was the brotherhood who was carrying out the orders of the government in the ‘New World Order.’ ”

Bond hearings are scheduled this afternoon for the nine Hutaree members who are charged in an alleged plot to attack police.

In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, McQuade said authorities “knew we had to move” after Hutaree members moved from “just fantasy” to allegedly talking about a specific time frame — April — for carrying out the alleged plot.

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