- SoRelle, 43, has been acting as president of the Oath Keepers.
- She took over after the arrest of its leader and founder Stewart Rhodes in January.
- She is charged with conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and other charges.
The lawyer for the Oath Keepersa far-right extremist group that has come under scrutiny by federal authorities since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, has been charged with conspiracy in connection with the attack.
Kellye SoRelle, who is the anti-government group’s general counsel, was arrested Thursday morning in Junction, Texas, about 60 miles west of Fredericksburg, the US attorney’s office said. She is charged with conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, entering a restricted building, and tampering with documents, according to her indictment released Thursday.
SoRelle made her initial court appearance Thursday in federal court in Austin, but future proceedings will take place in Washington, DC
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SoRelle, 43, has been acting as president of the Oath Keepers after the arrest of its leader and founder Stewart Rhodes in January. SoRelle told The Associated Press last year, when FBI agents seized her phone as part of the investigation, that she had no knowledge of or involvement in the Capitol breach. She called the seizure of her phone “unethical” and the investigation “a witch hunt.”
SoRelle was photographed with Rhodes outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and was present at an underground garage meeting the night before the riot that has been a focus for investigators. The meeting included Rhodes and Enrique Tarrio, the former chairman of the Proud Boys, who is charged separately with seditious conspiracy alongside other members of the extremist group who describe themselves as a politically incorrect men’s club for “Western chauvinists.”
According to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, the Oath Keepers planning began to block the peaceful transfer of power shortly after the Nov. 3, 2020, election when Joe Biden defeated then-President Donald Trump.
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Rhodes and four co-defendants are scheduled to go to trial starting Sept. 26 on seditious conspiracy charges. Prosecutors have accused Rhodes and his militia group of plotting for weeks to stop the transfer of power, and to that end, purchasing weapons, organizing military-style trainings and setting up battle plans.
Rhodes has said there was no plot to attack the Capitol and that their communications ahead of Jan. 6, 2021, were about providing security for right-wing figures such as Roger Stone or preparing for attacks by left-wing activists.
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SoRelle told The Associated Press that federal agents who seized her phone last year gave her a search warrant that said it was related to an investigation into seditious conspiracy. However, the indictment against SoRelle made public Thursday does not include a charge of seditious conspiracy.
More than 860 people have been arrested across the country for crimes related to the Capitol riot, including more than 260 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. One Austin man has so far pleaded guilty to interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder, and the cases of four others who were arrested in Travis County are still pending.
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Contributing: The Associated Press.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism