DOUBLE WHAMMY

Jan. 6er Gets Life in Prison Despite Trump’s Efforts to Free Rioters

A federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump’s blanket pardon did not apply to Edward Kelley’s scheme.

A man who participated in the Jan. 6 riots has been sentenced to life behind bars despite Trump’s efforts to pardon him. Edward Kelley has been convicted of plotting to murder FBI special agents who investigated him over his actions on Jan. 6. Kelley was initially convicted in November of conspiracy to murder United States employees, solicitation to commit a crime of violence, and influencing or retaliating against federal officials by threat. President Donald Trump pardoned Kelley and over 1,500 other Jan. 6 rioters when he took power in January. Still, Kelley couldn’t steer clear of prison forever. A few months later, U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan sentenced Kelley during a hearing in Knoxville, Tennessee, revealing that he had plotted to murder FBI special agents. Although Kelley’s team argued that Trump’s blanket pardon should apply to his murder plot, a federal judge ruled otherwise. Federal prosecutors called Kelley “remorseless” in his efforts to kill agents, including by strategizing ways to bomb the FBI Knoxville office, creating a hit list, conducting combat drills to realize his plan, and forming a self-styled militia to attack FBI agents. They added that he ”committed crimes that are serious, violent, and all designed to achieve the same end: the murder of federal, state, and local law enforcement." Co-conspiracist Austin Carter, who pled guilty, is set to be sentenced next month.