President Trump dropped a political bombshell this week when he said he would consider pardoning the men convicted in the 2020 plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, calling the case “somewhat of a railroad job.”

Speaking at the White House after swearing in former Judge Jeanine Pirro as interim U.S. Attorney for D.C., Trump was asked directly whether he would pardon those convicted of the alleged conspiracy. He didn’t dodge the question. “I will take a look at it,” he said. “It’s been brought to my attention. I did watch the trial. It looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job.”

He elaborated further, saying, “I’ll be honest with you, it looked to me like some people said some stupid things. You know, they were drinking and I think they said stupid things.”

The comments immediately reignited debate over the legitimacy of the high-profile prosecution. In 2022, Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr.—described as the ringleaders—were convicted and sentenced to 16 and over 19 years in prison, respectively. But the case has never been without controversy.

Two other defendants, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta, were acquitted by a jury. Another trial for Fox and Croft Jr. ended in a deadlock before they were eventually convicted. Critics have long pointed to evidence of extensive FBI involvement in the plot, with some describing it as entrapment or a setup.

At the time, the Department of Justice announced it had arrested six men in connection with the alleged conspiracy. But questions quickly arose over whether the FBI had infiltrated the group and steered the plot into action. That led some critics, including Trump allies, to call it a “fed-napping” rather than a legitimate criminal case.

Trump’s consideration of pardons comes as his administration aggressively scrutinizes DOJ cases from the Biden years and re-evaluates what it sees as politically motivated prosecutions. Trump has already issued high-profile pardons for January 6 defendants and conservative activists swept up in what he calls the “Biden Justice Department’s witch hunts.”

In this case, Trump said the convicted men may have “said stupid things” but questioned whether their behavior warranted decades behind bars. “You call that a conspiracy?” he asked rhetorically in an earlier conversation with allies, according to insiders.

The issue is also highly political. Democrats and the media framed the Whitmer case as a symptom of “Trump-inspired extremism,” even though one of the acquitted defendants was affiliated with anarchist groups and had attended a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020—details largely buried at the time.

The Biden campaign seized on the story in 2020 to paint Trump and his supporters as dangerous threats to democracy. But now, with more facts out in the open and FBI credibility damaged by a string of blunders, Trump is signaling that he may take a second look at whether justice was truly served.

DOJ pardon attorney Ed Martin, who now reports directly to the White House, has echoed Trump’s concerns, describing the case as entangled in overreach and prosecutorial misconduct. Martin has also flagged what he calls “unacceptable” coordination between federal agents and informants in the early stages of the plot.

Only those convicted in federal court would be eligible for a presidential pardon, but for Fox and Croft Jr., Trump’s remarks are sure to raise hopes.

Governor Whitmer has not commented publicly on the president’s remarks, but her office previously called the plot “domestic terrorism.” Democrats are expected to use any move by Trump to revisit the case as a campaign issue, portraying it as a defense of political violence.

But Trump’s base sees something else: a president willing to question the narrative, challenge federal overreach, and revisit cases where the media and FBI may have gone too far.

Whether or not the pardons happen, one thing is clear—Trump’s willingness to revisit the Whitmer case is a sign that no stone is being left unturned in his second-term agenda to clean house.