U.S. prosecutors asked a judge this week to dismiss all charges against Christopher Kelly who was accused of entering the Capitol Building on January 6th.
The DOJ has been somewhat tight-lipped on the reason why charges were dropped, but it appears that the paid FBI informant was either mistaken about Kelly or worse, just flat out lied.
“was arrested Jan. 20 after the FBI said a paid confidential informant told agents that Kelly was posting material on a Facebook Messenger app about the riot and his plans to be in Washington on Jan. 6. The informant said a photo taken inside the Capitol was also posted, according to the FBI.
In the charging documents filed in court, an FBI agent said, "I believe the messages and image ... reflect that Chris Kelly was using this account to inform associates that he had breached the Capitol and was inside."
The court document accompanying the charges included photos that the FBI said showed Kelly on the Capitol grounds, but they did not include any further indication that he entered the building.
Other riot cases brought forth included data from cellphone service providers indicating that defendants' phones were inside the building. This case did not. Nor did it include any photos of Kelly himself inside the Capitol or offer any direct proof that he was among the rioters.”
Bloomberg reports that this isn’t the first disinformation pushed by the DOJ, they reports:
“In January, a federal prosecutor in Arizona claimed in court that some rioters had made plans to “capture and assassinate” elected officials. After the comment made headlines, the acting U.S. attorney in Washington cautioned reporters that the U.S. had found no evidence of such plans and warned of a “disconnect” between prosecutors in different jurisdictions.”