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After the 2020 election, Kelley was a speaker at a “Stop the Steal” rally in Lansing, telling the crowd that Democrats were trying to steal Trump’s victory. Kelley also has made election fraud and the lie that Trump won the election a major focus of his activism and his campaign for governor. During the early months of the pandemic, he organized a protest at the Michigan Capitol, inviting heavily armed militias to gather inside the statehouse. Kelley became a vocal activist in Michigan during the coronavirus pandemic, when he protested restrictions put in place by Whitmer. Some who’ve pleaded guilty to misdemeanors have been sentenced to short stints behind bars while others have been sentenced to home confinement or probation. Of those already charged, more than 300 people have pleaded guilty, largely to misdemeanor offenses punishable by no more than one year in prison. Kelley faces up to one year in prison or a fine of $100,000. Fellow GOP candidate Rinke said on Twitter that he hopes the FBI is acting appropriately “because the timing here raises serious questions.” Kelley’s campaign manager, Karla Wagner, told WOOD-TV his arrest is political and an “intimidation tactic” orchestrated by Democrats. It wasn’t clear why authorities decided to move against Kelley now, though the government continues to charge more people in the massive investigation, even nearly 18 months later. He is among more than 800 people who are facing criminal charges in connection with the Jan. Kelley has long acknowledged that he was at the insurrection and said that he didn’t go inside the Capitol. The document included multiple photos of Kelley that the FBI described as screengrabs from video taken that day, with Kelley wearing aviator sunglasses and a baseball cap worn backward, trying to rally the pro-Trump crowd. Capitol police officers” and was in a crowd that climbed stairs to a Capitol entrance after causing police to retreat, the FBI said. He used his phone to “film the crowd assaulting and pushing past U.S. Capitol on the day of the insurrection, repeatedly waving to the crowd and directing them toward stairs leading into the building. In a court document made public Thursday, federal investigators said Kelley was recorded on video outside the U.S. Kelley, a real estate broker who lives in Allendale Township, is accused of disruptive conduct, injuring public property and entering restricted space without permission, according to the criminal complaint. Trump has not endorsed anyone in the race. The four other Republicans in the race are businesswoman and conservative commentator Tudor Dixon, who recently was endorsed by the family of former Trump administration Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the anti-abortion group Right to Life of Michigan, businessman Kevin Rinke, pastor Ralph Rebandt and chiropractor Garrett Soldano. Five of them, including two front-runners, were dropped from the primary ballot because forged signatures submitted by paid petition circulators left them below the 15,000 needed to make the race. Gretchen Whitmer in the battleground state this fall. Kelley’s arrest further roils a GOP field that initially had 10 candidates seeking to challenge Democratic Gov. His campaign posted on Facebook two words: “political prisoner,” and the chairman of the state GOP accused Democrats of “weaponizing our justice system” against poltical opponents.ĭefense attorney Heath Lynch said Kelley “has every intention of continuing his campaign in earnest.” Kelley walked away from the courthouse, joined by his wife and other family, saying only that he would comment later.