The plot, which also included attacking an F.B.I. office in Tennessee, was foiled by a witness who aided the authorities and recorded the defendant and a co-conspirator, court papers say.
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Edward Kelley, 33, of Maryville, Tenn., is facing charges for assaulting a police officer during the storming of the Capitol last year.
A Tennessee man already facing charges of assaulting a police officer during the storming of the Capitol last year was charged on Friday with plotting to assassinate several of the federal agents who had investigated him and to attack the F.B.I.’s field office in Knoxville, Tenn.
The plot by the man, Edward Kelley, 33, of Maryville, Tenn., was foiled this week by a witness who cooperated with the authorities and recorded him and a co-conspirator, Austin Carter, 26, of Knoxville, according to court papers filed in the case.
Mr. Kelley and Mr. Carter were charged with conspiracy, retaliating against a federal official, interstate communication of a threat and solicitation to commit a crime of violence. Both men were denied bail at a hearing on Friday in Federal District Court in Knoxville, the Justice Department said.
The inquiry into the assassination plot began on Tuesday, court papers said, when an unnamed acquaintance of Mr. Kelley gave the police in Maryville an envelope containing a document titled “The List” that he had gotten from Mr. Carter. The document bore the names of 37 people who had participated in the Jan. 6-related investigation of Mr. Kelley, the papers said, including law enforcement officers who were present at the arrest of Mr. Kelley and a search of his home in May.
Accompanying the list of names in the envelope was a computer thumb drive that contained what appeared to be video footage from Mr. Kelley’s home security camera showing a law enforcement officer approaching his home on the day of the arrest, court papers said.
ImageEdward Kelley on Jan. 5, 2021, the day before he is accused of assaulting a police officer at the Capitol.Credit…Department of Justice
In an interview with the F.B.I., the acquaintance told investigators that Mr. Kelley had informed him about putting the list together in early December and asked him to reach out to his “cop buddies” about collecting information on the targets.
Understand the Events on Jan. 6
- Timeline: On Jan. 6, 2021, 64 days after Election Day 2020, a mob of supporters of President Donald J. Trump raided the Capitol. Here is a close look at how the attack unfolded.
- A Day of Rage: Using thousands of videos and police radio communications, a Times investigation reconstructed in detail what happened — and why.
- Lost Lives: A bipartisan Senate report found that at least seven people died in connection with the attack.
- Jan. 6 Attendees: To many of those who attended the Trump rally but never breached the Capitol, that date wasn’t a dark day for the nation. It was a new start.
“With us being such a small group,” the acquaintance quoted Mr. Kelley as saying, “we will mainly conduct recon missions and assassination missions.”
On Tuesday, the court papers said, Mr. Carter gave the acquaintance the list of the people to be targeted, telling him to memorize it and “burn it when you’re done.” The acquaintance quickly handed the list and the video on the thumb drive over to the local police and agreed to make surreptitious recordings of the two men.
On Wednesday afternoon, the acquaintance recorded Mr. Kelley asking if he could “stash some stuff” at his place when Mr. Kelley went out of town for the Christmas holiday. When the acquaintance asked what kind of stuff, Mr. Kelley said it would be “weapons and ammo,” according to the court papers.
A few hours later, in another recorded call, Mr. Kelley told the acquaintance that if he did not hear from him for a day or two, he should recruit a group of people and attack the F.B.I.’s office in Knoxville, the papers said.
“You don’t have time to train or coordinate,” Mr. Kelley said, according to court papers, “but every hit has to hurt.”
That same evening, the papers say, the acquaintance called Mr. Carter to see if he was planning on taking part in the attack on the F.B.I. office.
“This is the time,” Mr. Carter said, according to the papers. He then urged the acquaintance “to definitely make sure you got everything racked, locked up and loaded.”
Lawyers for Mr. Kelley and Mr. Carter did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Mr. Kelley is not the first person at the Capitol on Jan. 6 who later turned his ire against the F.B.I. In August, after federal agents searched Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald J. Trump’s private club and residence in Florida, looking for classified documents, an Ohio man named Ricky Schiffer tried to break into the bureau’s field office near Cincinnati armed with a rifle.
Mr. Schiffer, who had taken part in a pro-Trump rally at the Capitol but apparently did not break into the building, was rebuffed by security at the F.B.I. office. After fleeing, he was killed in a shootout with the local police.
Prosecutors say Mr. Kelley showed up at the Capitol on Jan. 6 wearing a gas mask and a green tactical helmet. He scuffled with a Capitol Police officer on the west side of the building, throwing the officer to the ground, court papers say.
He then used a long piece of wood to shatter a window near the Senate wing door, breaching the Capitol. Prosecutors say Mr. Kelley, the fourth person to enter the building through the window, then helped kick open a nearby door.
Source: nytimes.com
