Michigan candidate for governor arrested for participating in Capitol riot

A Republican standing for governor of Michigan has been arrested by the FBI for disorderly and disruptive conduct related to his alleged involvement in the storming of the US Capitol building on 6 January 2021.

Ryan Kelley was arrested on Thursday morning while his house near Grand Rapids was searched by federal agents, the Detroit News reported. An indictment released by the US district court for Washington DC, which is handling most of the criminal cases arising out of the January 6 insurrection, charged Kelley with “disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds”.

Kelley, a real estate agent, is one of five Republican candidates remaining in Michigan’s primary gubernatorial race, which will be held in August. His arrest throws the contest into further disarray: five other Republican candidates have already been disqualified having been accused of submitting fraudulent petitions to get on to the ballot.

Video footage captured during the storming of the US Capitol on January 6 appears to show Kelley climbing the outer steps of the compound shouting: “Come on, let’s go! This is it! This is war baby!”

The criminal complaint against Kelley said that as vice president Mike Pence was beginning the certification process of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election, a large crowd gathered outside the US Capitol. It says that an anonymous tipster contacted the FBI with photos of a man in a black coat, backwards black baseball cap and aviator sunglasses who appeared to be Kelley.

The FBI said that it had positively identified Kelley as the man in the photographs using witnesses. According to the charges, Kelley was part of the crowd that pushed its way into the Capitol, at one point standing on an architectural feature next to the north-west stairs and indicating “by waving his hand that the crowd behind him should move towards the stairs leading into the UC Capitol building”.

Kelley’s arrest and prosecution comes just hours before the House select committee that is investigating the January 6 insurrection holds the first of six televised hearings. With less than two months to go before the August primary, the Republican primary race in Michigan is now in turmoil.

The five other candidates who have already been thrown off the ballot were disqualified last month after thousands of allegedly fraudulent signatures were found on petitions for the individuals to be nominated into the primary race. To be considered, each candidate had to gather at least 15,000 valid signatures.

But according to election authorities in the state, thousands of invalid signatures were discovered. The elections bureau said it did not suspect the candidates of being aware of the fraud, but penalised them for failing to ensure that their petitions were legitimate.

The Michigan Democratic party responded swiftly to Kelley’s arrest. Lavora Barnes, the party chair, told the Detroit Free Press: “Just days after their field was cut in half due to corruption and mass fraud, Republican gubernatorial candidates’ callous disregard for the principles of democracy was on full display again today.”