(LifeSiteNews) — A 37-year-old Iowa man who sat down for an interview with LifeSiteNews reporter Jim Hale two years ago to explain why he attended the January 6 protests in Washington D.C. will serve two-and-a-half years in federal prison for his actions.
Leo Kelly of Cedar Rapids was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth, the Department of Justice announced Friday. Kelly was found guilty by a jury in May of “obstructing an official [government] proceeding” — a felony — and six other misdemeanor offenses related to his entering the U.S. Capitol.
He is also required to perform 36 months of supervised release and pay $7,000 in restitution and fines.
As previously reported by LifeSite, Kelly found his way to the Senate Chamber and was present when “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley offered a public prayer of thanksgiving for the police, some of whom famously escorted him to that location.
Footage of the protesters that was held back by Congress was released by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson earlier this year. Carlson said that “taken as a whole” the “video record does not support the claim that January 6 was an insurrection. In fact, it demolishes that claim. And that’s exactly why the Democratic Party and its allies in the media prevented you from seeing it.”
Podcaster Joe Rogan made similar comments earlier this month when he told comedian Jim Gaffigan he believes it is “certainly possible” intelligence officials provoked the protesters to enter the Capitol as a false flag operation in order to blame former President Donald Trump.
“I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility they [the FBI] would encourage people to do things that were unlawful,” Rogan argued. “Throughout history people of unchecked power and unchecked influence have enemies, and Trump was [the FBI’s] enemy.”
Joe Rogan:
“The January 6th thing is bad, but also, the intelligence agencies were involved in provoking people into the Capitol Building. That’s a fact.” pic.twitter.com/3cZToOhQkc
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) July 31, 2023
Kelly told LifeSite’s Jim Hale in 2021 that he was “conflicted” about whether he did something wrong. Nevertheless, he said that he and the rest of America was “betrayed by Congress … betrayed by the judicial branch … betrayed by our local governments, our mayors and everything. What are we supposed to do?”
According to the Department of Justice’s press release, FBI agents arrested Kelly in Cedar Rapids on January 18, 2021. On December 3, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging him with seven counts. The department also said that since January 6, 2021, more than 1,106 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states, including more than 350 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
On Thursday this week, The Gateway Pundit released shocking new photographs of January 6 prisoner Ryan Samuel, who is being held in a narrow cell about the size of a closet. He was reportedly only given a thin blue mattress and deprived of sheets or blankets. “It was cold, the light was on, there’s zero window,” Samuel said of the conditions. The outlet described the situation as a clear instance of human rights abuse.