US Capitol rioter sentenced to life in prison for plot to attack FBI office

The Guardian

03-07-2025

A US military veteran, previously pardoned by Donald Trump for his role in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol, was sentenced to life in prison this week for plotting to attack an FBI office and assassinate other law enforcement officers.
Edward Kelley, 36, was found guilty last November of trying to attack officers who investigated him over his actions at the US Capitol in Washington DC when pro-Trump supporters tried stormed the building in hopes, ultimately in vain, of stopping the certification of Joe Biden's presidential victory over Trump in the 2020 election.
Kelley was one of the first rioters to breach the Capitol on January 6 after rioters broke through police lines, according to justice department documents. He then made plans to attack the FBI office in Knoxville, Tennessee, with car bombs and explosives attached to drones. He also developed a 'kill list' of law enforcement officers he wanted to assassinate.
Previously, a judge found that Trump's pardon did not apply to this case, saying that his prosecution could continue.
Last November, after a three-day jury trial, he was convicted of conspiracy to murder federal employees, solicitation to commit a crime of violence and influencing a federal official by threat, the justice department said.
Austin Carter, another man who plotted with Kelley in 2022 to assassinate the FBI employees, pleaded guilty to the charges and became a cooperating witness. Carter testified against Kelley, saying that he and Kelley planned the attacks.
'He also testified that the conspirators strategized about assassinating FBI employees in their homes and in public places such as movie theaters,' the justice department said.
Prosecutors recommended a life sentence for Kelley, saying he was remorseless for his actions. Kelley had served in the US Marine Corps for eight years and was discharged in 2015. Last year, Kelley was found guilty, in a separate case, of three felonies, including assaulting law enforcement, civil disorder and destruction of government property.
On his first day back in office this January, Trump issued pardons and commutations for nearly 1,500 people convicted of storming the Capitol on 6 January 2021 during the insurrection. On that day, Trump told his supporters at a rally prior to the attack to 'fight like hell' to overturn his defeat. Trump was impeached for inciting the insurrection but was acquitted by the US Senate, allowing him to run for office again.
Another January 6 defendant was recently revealed to be working within the justice department as an adviser to Ed Martin, a justice department advocate for the insurrectionists. Martin is the leader of the Trump administration's 'weaponization working group', which was established in February to analyze instances during the Biden administration in which 'a department's or agency's conduct appears to have been designed to achieve political objectives or other improper aims rather than pursuing justice or legitimate governmental objectives', a justice department memo says.