1 year ago
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A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a former Republican candidate for Michigan governor to two months behind bars for joining a mob's Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, where he riled up other rioters and ripped a tarp outside the building.
Ryan Kelley, who finished fourth in a primary field of five Republican gubernatorial candidates last year, pleaded guilty in July to a misdemeanor for his role in the siege.
Several months before his guilty plea, Kelley posted on social media that the Capitol riot was an FBI “set up." His campaign posted the words “political prisoner” on Facebook after his June 2022 arrest.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper told Kelley that he misused his platform as a candidate for public office by promoting lies about election fraud, including the baseless claim that Jan. 6 was somehow part of an FBI plot.
“A lot of folks voted for you. A lot of folks followed you,” Cooper said before sentencing Kelley to 60 days of imprisonment and ordering him to pay a $5,000 fine.
