‘Entirely independent criminal conduct’: Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons don’t cover Capitol rioter’s conviction for planning ‘assassination missions’ of FBI agents, DOJ says

Edward Kelley on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C., wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat and a TCAPP sweatshirt.

Edward Kelley (images via FBI court filing).

The Justice Department is refusing to drop the conviction of a Jan. 6 rioter who was found guilty of plotting to kill the FBI agents who investigated him for his pardoned Capitol attack crimes, which included breaking in and assaulting a police officer.

Edward Kelley, 35, of Maryville, Tennessee, had previously tried claiming that his federal murder plot case was “related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.” He filed a motion to dismiss his indictment and to vacate his jury convictions on Jan. 27, one week after President Donald Trump issued his pardons, to which Trump’s DOJ responded bluntly on Tuesday.

“The defendant is wrong,” wrote prosecutors in their response. “As both parties made explicitly clear to the Court and jury throughout litigation in this Court, this case is not about Jan. 6 … This case is about the defendant’s entirely independent criminal conduct in Tennessee, in late 2022, more than 500 miles away from the Capitol: threatening, soliciting, and conspiring to murder agents, officers, and employees of the FBI, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Maryville Police Department, Blount County Sheriff’s Office, and Clinton Police Department.”

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