According to new trial testimony, a Tennessee man facing federal charges for plotting to kill FBI agents investigating him for his role in the Jan. 6 riots at the United States Capitol was allegedly carrying a gun that day.
The details were revealed Tuesday during Edward Kelley’s bench trial before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, a Bill Clinton appointee. Kelley is facing charges for civil disorder, obstruction, and assaulting officers in connection with the Capitol breach. He is facing separate charges in connection with a plot to murder FBI employees in Tennessee.
According to NBC News justice reporter Ryan J. Reilly, FBI Special Agent Jessi Mann demonstrated in court that Kelley most likely wore a waistband gun holster that day to conceal a gun.
Mann also claimed that Capitol surveillance photos from that day showed the weapon’s “printing” or outline, as well as the clip on the holster on his pants. According to Reilly, the agent testified that he purchased boxes of ammunition and gas masks prior to the attack.
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Kelley is accused of storming the building that day to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Wearing a gas mask, green tactical helmet, and backpack secured across his chest, he allegedly smashed a window at the building with a wooden plank before entering and kicking open a door to allow other rioters in, according to court documents.
Investigators also claim he and two other men got into a fight with a Capitol police officer, throwing him to the ground.
Kelley was among the rioters who followed Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up a flight of stairs and spoke with him, according to authorities. Goodman is credited with leading the angry rioters away from the Senate Chamber.
After Kelley was arrested in the Jan. 6 case in May 2022 and released pending trial, he allegedly plotted to assassinate the law enforcement officers investigating him. He, a codefendant named Austin Carter, and a witness walked through Jarvis Park in Maryville, Tennessee, on December 3, according to authorities.
According to Kelley, “with us being such a small group, we will mainly conduct recon missions and assassination missions.”
“I don’t have the list right now, but I’ll get it to you later,” he said, according to documents.
According to authorities, Kelley asked Carter and the witness for information on the people on the list and instructed the witness to “reach out to your cop buddies” to find out more about them.
Carter allegedly gave the witness an envelope containing “the list” and a thumb drive, according to documents.
“The envelope contained a printed document titled ‘The list’ with approximately thirty-seven names, positions and some phone numbers of the law enforcement personnel who participated in the criminal investigation of Kelley,” according to court filings. “The list identified which law enforcement officers were ‘present at Kelley’s arrest or home search’ on May 5, 2022.
The list appears to be a computer-generated Word document. The envelope also contained a thumb drive with what appears to be video footage from Kelley’s home security camera from the morning of the search on May 5, 2022, depicting at least one law enforcement officer approaching Kelley’s home.”
Authorities said the witness came forward to investigators with this evidence. Carter pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced.
Kelley’s trial in the FBI murder plot case in Tennessee is scheduled for November 18, according to online court records.
