FBI arrests Michigan GOP candidate for governor

FPI / June 10, 2022

On the same day House Democrats, and two RINO colleagues, launched made-for-prime-time partisan hearings, the FBI stormed the home of Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley and arrested him on misdemeanor charges connected to his alleged participation in the events of Jan. 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol.

Kelley, 40, was arrested after the FBI raided his Allendale Township home.

His arrest came on the same day as the first hearing held by the House Select Committee on Jan. 6.

According to the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia, the charges against Kelley include one count that he entered or remained on restricted grounds and one count that he engaged in physical violence on restricted grounds, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court on Wednesday.

Kelley was seen on video on Jan. 6, 2021 outside the Capitol building, an FBI agent wrote in a statement. The FBI said the footage shows that, over a roughly two-hour period, Kelley climbed scaffolding and waved at the crowd to climb the stairs to the Capitol.

Kelley told a local Michigan publication in March 2021 that he was in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021 but said that he left “once things started getting crazy.”

Kelley is one of several Republican candidates seeking to replace Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is currently running unopposed for her party’s nomination, according to Ballotpedia.

Last month, Michigan election officials disqualified five GOP candidates, including the two leading contenders, after investigators claimed that they had forged tens of thousands of signatures to get on the ballot.

After the five candidates were disqualified, a joint poll conducted by Target Insyght and Michigan Information & Research Service showed that Kelley was the leading Republican candidate. Nineteen percent of voters supported him, while the closest candidates behind him were supported by 15% and 9% of voters, according to the poll.

Michigan’s primary election will be held on Aug. 2.

Free Press International