Veteran gets life sentence for plotting FBI attack after Jan. 6 arrest
By Michael Kunzelman, The Associated Press
Wednesday, Jul 2, 2025
This image from U.S. Capitol Police video, contained in the statement of facts supporting the arrest warrant for Edward Kelley, and annotated by the source, shows Kelley entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Justice Department via AP)
A military veteran was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for plotting to attack an FBI office and assassinate law enforcement officers in retaliation for his arrest on charges that he was part of the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, court records show.
Edward Kelley was one of the first rioters to breach the Capitol. Nearly two years later, Kelley made plans with another man to attack the FBI office in Knoxville, Tennessee, using improvised explosive devices attached to vehicles and drones, according to prosecutors.
Last November, a jury convicted Kelley of conspiring to murder federal employees, solicitation to commit a crime of violence and influencing federal officials by threat.
Kelley, 36, received a pardon from President Donald Trump for his Jan. 6 convictions, but a judge agreed with prosecutors that Trump’s action did not extend to Kelley’s Tennessee case. That makes Kelley, who is from Maryvale, Tennessee, one of only a few Capitol riot defendants remaining in prison after the Republican president’s sweeping act of clemency.
https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/extremism-disinformation/2025/07/02/veteran-gets-life-sentence-for-plotting-fbi-attack-after-jan-6-arrest/
