WASHINGTON — Kellye SoRelle, the general counsel for the far-right organization the Oath Keepers, was arrested Thursday in Texas after she was indicted on four charges in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, the Justice Department said.
A federal grand jury indicted SoRelle on four counts: conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, obstruction of justice and misdemeanor entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. She has not been charged with seditious conspiracy, as other Oath Keepers have.
The indictment provides few details. It alleges that she "did corruptly persuade and attempt to corruptly persuade other persons with intent to cause and induce such persons to (A) withhold records, documents, and other objects from an official proceeding, that is, the Grand Jury investigation into the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, and (B) alter, destroy, mutilate, and conceal objects with intent to impair the objects' integrity and availability for use in such a Grand Jury investigation."
SoRelle was on encrypted chats with members of the Oath Keepers, and the FBI seized her phone last September. SoRelle was featured in the House Jan. 6 committee hearings and spoke extensively to the committee.
SoRelle, who was a volunteer with Lawyers for Trump during the 2020 election, has said Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes tried to get her to give him her contacts with former President Donald Trump's team before the Jan. 6 attack.
Rhodes and other members of the Oath Keepers face charges of seditious conspiracy. One Oath Keeper who pleaded guilty to that charge, William Todd Wilson, told a judge that he heard Rhodes tell someone in Trump's orbit by phone on the night of Jan. 6 to have Trump "call upon groups like the Oath Keepers to forcibly oppose a transfer of power."
During the call, Wilson said, Rhodes tried to talk to Trump directly, but the person on the other end "denied Rhodes' request to speak directly with President Trump."
The Oath Keepers, including SoRelle, then headed to a suburban Olive Garden.
