The Berrien County GOP has struck back against controversy over its engagement featuring some January 6 defendants and two men acquitted of charges in the kidnapping plot against Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

The GOP is hosting them Friday night in Stevensville with Democrats calling the event inappropriate. Speaking on social media, Berrien County COP Chair Ashley White defended inviting the January 6ers, saying Democrats only ever called the Capitol riot an “insurrection” to prevent Donald Trump from qualifying for the presidency again.

“We should not fail to recognize that the labeling of January 6th as an insurrection was no coincidence,” White said. “That term was chosen specifically to prevent him from becoming our 47th president.”

As for the kidnapping defendants, White likened the FBI bust of William and Michael Null to entrapment during the COVID lockdown.

“We remember that liquor stores were open while churches were closed. We remember the labored breathing of our children while they were forcibly masked over the protest of parents. We remember these events and are left to wonder if the FBI activity was intended to change the anti-Whitmer narrative by discrediting those of us who were protesting for freedom.”

White disputed the idea the American Legion post in Stevensville didn’t know what the GOP event was going to be when it allowed the party to rent its hall. In the video, she presents evidence that the Legion was told January 6 was going to be a focus on the engagement, adding the Legion’s bylaws, in fact, do not prohibit a political event from being held in its halls.

The American Legion post says it tried to cancel hosting the Friday event when it learned details but couldn’t.

White said the engagement is all about raising funds for the Republican party to win elections in 2026, and outrage over it is merely “political gamesmanship.”