Convicted Jan. 6 rioter now found guilty of plotting to kill FBI agents
Blount County Sheriff’s Office
(KNOXVILLE, Tenn.) — A convicted Jan. 6 rioter has now been found guilty of plotting to murder FBI agents who were investigating the Capitol insurrection.
Edward Kelley, 35, was convicted Wednesday in the federal case against him in Knoxville, Tennessee, according to the Department of Justice.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 7, and could face a sentence of up to life in prison.
Kelley made a “kill list” of FBI agents who were investigating the Jan. 6 riot, the Department of Justice said in a press release following the conviction.
Prosecutors said he plotted to attack the Knoxville FBI office with “car bombs and incendiary devices appended to drones,” and to assassinate FBI agents “in their homes and in public places such as movie theaters.”
“The safety of our men and women in law enforcement is of paramount concern,” U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III said Wednesday. “There is simply no room in society for those who would engage in this kind of reprehensible conduct and threaten to assassinate FBI agents and others who are honorably serving to uphold the law, and this office will pursue all such threats against civil servants working for the public good.”
Earlier this month, Kelley was convicted on multiple counts, including assaulting law enforcement, at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., said Kelley was identified in photos and videos from the insurrection, and was seen in an “altercation” with a United States Capitol Police officer “where he and two other men throw the officer to the ground.”
Kelley was seen in the footage pushing against a metal barricade guarded by police to access the Capitol building. He then used a piece of wood to smash a window, then entered the building through the window, prosecutors said.
While inside the Capitol, Kelley confronted U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, and was also spotted in the Senate Gallery, according to prosecutors.
He is expected to be sentenced in Washington, D.C., federal court on April 7.
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, has vaulted to the forefront of the presidential campaign as a top donor and impassioned speaker in support of former President Donald Trump.
Still, Musk has said in recent days that the candidate’s economic plans could cause financial pain, at least in the short term.
Among those proposals is the potential formation of a new “government efficiency commission” to be led by Musk. The group would scrutinize federal spending and slash programs deemed wasteful.
Speaking on a telephone town hall on Friday, Musk said spending cuts imposed by the commission would “necessarily involve some temporary hardship.” Ultimately, Musk added, the cost-cutting would “ensure long-term prosperity.”
“We have to reduce spending to live within our means,” Musk said.
Offering up another cautionary note, Musk voiced agreement with a post on X on Tuesday that warned of dire economic fallout if Trump wins the election and implements some of his key agenda items.
“If Trump succeeds in forcing through mass deportations, combined with Elon hacking away at the government, firing people and reducing the deficit – there will be an initial severe overreaction in the economy,” an anonymous user posted on X.
“Market will tumble. But when the storm passes and everyone realizes we are on sounder footing, there will be a rapid recovery to a healthier, sustainable economy,” the post added.
In reply, Musk said, “Sounds about right.”
ABC News contacted Musk-owned companies, Tesla and SpaceX, in an effort to reach Musk for comment. He did not immediately respond. America PAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In response to ABC News’ request for comment, the Trump campaign praised Musk, saying he is uniquely equipped to help improve government efficiency.
“As President Trump has said, Elon Musk is a genius, an innovator, and has literally made history by building creative, modern, and efficient systems. Elon Musk has dedicated himself to America’s future by offering to serve with President Trump to ensure our government works more efficiently and uses America’s taxpayer dollars effectively,” Brian Hughes, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, told ABC News.
“The commission will ultimately be staffed and dedicated to this mission, and President Trump is committed to having Mr. Musk lead this commission to analyze the functionality of our government,” Hughes added.
On the campaign trail, Trump has vowed to slap tariffs of up to 20% on all imported goods and deport millions of undocumented immigrants. Economists widely view those proposals as likely to drive up consumer prices, since companies typically pass along the costs of taxes and wage increases to customers.
Trump has also floated the notion of eliminating the personal income tax for all Americans. The U.S. would pay for the lost tax revenue with far-reaching tariffs, Trump told Joe Rogan last week.
The individual income tax currently accounts for roughly half of the $5 trillion in revenue that the federal government brings in each year. It would be all but impossible to make up for the lost revenue with increased tariffs, experts previously told ABC News.
Last year, the U.S. imported about $3.8 trillion worth of goods, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis found. To generate the same amount of revenue currently brought in by the individual income tax, a tariff would have needed to be set at about 70%, said Alan Auerbach, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
However, a tariff of such magnitude would significantly reduce U.S. trade, slashing the total amount of imported goods and, in turn, reducing tax revenue.
Musk, who leads Tesla and SpaceX, has taken an active role as both a large donor and vocal proponent backing Trump.
Musk donated about $75 million to a pro-Trump Super PAC over a three-month period ending in September, according to disclosures filed to the Federal Election Commission. Musk, who owns X, frequently posts messages in support of Trump on the social media platform, where he boasts more than 202 million followers.
The U.S. national debt currently stands at about $35 trillion. President Joe Biden has added to the national debt over the course of his term in office, just as Trump did.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ economic plans would increase primary deficits by $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years, according to a budget model created by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. The plans put forward by Trump, meanwhile, would increase primary deficits by $5.8 trillion over that period, the model found.
Speaking on a telephone town hall on Friday, Musk vowed to closely examine the federal budget if appointed head of a potential “government efficiency commission.”
The role means “looking at every line item, every expense, and saying is this necessary at all?” Musk said.
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — Parents of the University of Idaho victims are speaking out on the two-year mark of the gruesome quadruple homicide as they await the trial for their children’s suspected killer.
For victim Kaylee Goncalves’ parents, one of the devastating milestones this year is Kaylee’s younger sister, Autumn, turning 21 — the age Kaylee was when she was killed.
“Early on, [Autumn] just said, ‘What am I going to do when I’m older than Kaylee?'” Kristi Goncalves recalled. “You should never be older than Kaylee, but yeah, you will be and, and that’s coming.”
“It should be an exciting, fun time for her to go out with all of her sisters and go do something fun. But somebody does this to your family, it robs you of all kinds of different things. And birthdays are a huge part of that,” Steve Goncalves told ABC News on Tuesday.
For the mom of 20-year-old victim Ethan Chapin, two years “seems like a long time ago,” but “also feels like yesterday.”
Ethan Chapin was a triplet and his sister, Mazie, and brother, Hunter, also attend the University of Idaho.
“The two will graduate college in May, and we could not be prouder of everything they’ve accomplished,” Stacy Chapin said in a statement.
“We continue to heal and miss Ethan as we work diligently to find the silver linings in the worst circumstances,” she said.
Bryan Kohberger is accused of fatally stabbing Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle at the girls’ off-campus house in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022. Chapin, Kernodle’s boyfriend, was sleeping over at the time.
Kohberger, who was a criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University, was arrested in December 2022. His trial date has been pushed back to Aug. 7, 2025.
For the Goncalves, the last two years felt like a “standstill” in the courts.
Two months ago, Kohberger’s trial was moved from Latah County, where the crime took place and the defense argued jurors wouldn’t be as impartial, to Idaho’s capital city, Boise.
Kristi Goncalves said, “I feel like now that we’ve moved it down to Boise, as much as we didn’t want that, that was the right choice. And I’m glad that it, you know, in hindsight that it happened, and I feel like things are going to start moving, although it still seems very slow.”
Kohberger is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.
If convicted, Kohberger could face the death penalty, though his defense is arguing for the death sentence to be taken off the table.
The Goncalves family said they support the death penalty in this case, highlighting the limitations that sentence would pose on Kohberger’s life in prison.
“It’s more about, honestly, the 23 hours of confinement, and not being able to be enrolled in college education and being able to further his career and his influence on society,” Steve Goncalves said.
On Wednesday night, the University of Idaho community will gather for a vigil to honor the four slain students.
“Together, we’ll honor their legacy by sharing memories, writing notes, and gathering in a place dedicated to all Vandals we’ve lost,” the student government said.
ABC News’ Kayna Whitworth contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will travel on Sunday to Florida areas ravaged by the back-to-back hurricanes, and announce federal funding for projects to strengthen the electrical grid, according to the White House.
Biden will be touring St. Petersburg, one of the hardest hit Florida cities from Hurricane Milton last week, and reveal $612 million for six Department of Energy projects in the southeast.
Two of the projects are focused in Florida and provide a combined $94M in federal funds, according to the White House.
Gainesville Regional Utilities will use the funding to help mitigate the effects of increasingly extreme weather in north central Florida, “through storm hardening, as well as faster restoration through deployment of self-healing devices and tools that will enable more efficient and precise dispatching of field teams during outages,” the White House said in a statement.
Switched Source, a private utility technology developer, will work with Florida Power and Light to deploy Phase-EQ, which “optimizes power flow in distribution circuits, will unlock over 200 MW of system capacity, and improve reliability on circuits serving communities that are most susceptible to prolonged outages,” according to the White House.
“These investments are part of the president’s commitment to making long-term investments that protect, enhance, and upgrade our nation’s electric grid, especially in the face of extreme weather events,” the White House said in a statement.
Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday evening. At least 16 people were killed in the storm and over a million remain without power.
Biden has spoken to numerous state and local officials, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who he said was “very cooperative.” When asked if he would meet with DeSantis on Sunday, Biden said yes so long as the governor was available.
