The first time in history for a Republican Gubernatorial Candidate to be arrested and charged with four counts of misdemeanors. Ryan Kelley, was charged with committing violence against a person or restricted grounds, damaging federal property, disorderly conduct and entering a restricted building or grounds without permission. According to the Spokesman for the District of Columbia’s Attorney Office,
According to filing, he was identified because of his outfit at the Capitol grounds was similar with the outfit he wore at the American Patriot Council “Judgement day” in Lansing, Michigan in May, 2020.
Mr. Kelley called together about 50 militiamen to square off against a few dozen Black Lives Matter protesters over a statue of a Confederate soldier in his town and also was a lead organizer against pandemic lockdown measures at the Michigan Statehouse in April 2020.
During an interview Mr Kelley said “Becoming too closely aligned with militias — is that a bad thing?”
Mr. Kelley and a group of militia members showed up for a rowdy protest outside a ballot-counting center in the state. He is also competing with four other candidates for a chance to face Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat in the general election this fall.
An F.B.I. agent described Mr. Kelley’s actions in a filing to the court, saying at one point that Mr. Kelley appeared to use his phone “to film the crowd assault and pushing past U.S. Capitol police officers.” The filing also said that Mr. Kelley used “his hands to support another rioter” who was pulling down a metal barricade, and that he gestured “to the crowd, consistently indicating” that it should continue moving toward the entrance to the Capitol.