MICHIGAN Governor Gretchen Whitmer has accused US President Donald Trump of issuing a “rallying cry” to extremists after police foiled a plot to kidnap her.

Six men have been charged over the plot to abduct Ms Whitmer, a Democrat, and hold a mock “treason trial” that would put her to death for imposing lockdown restrictions due to coronavirus.

Ms Whitmer pointed to Mr Trump’s presidential debate instruction to the white supremacist Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” saying “hate groups heard the president’s words not as a rebuke, but as a rallying cry... when our leaders meet, encourage or fraternise with domestic terrorists, they legitimise their actions.”