Attorney with ties to Oath Keepers arrested on charges related to Capitol attack

Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Kellye SoRelle, an attorney with ties to the Oath Keepers militia, was arrested Thursday on charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Federal prosecutors charged SoRelle with four counts, including conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding and tampering with documents, according to the federal indictment.

SoRelle, who was with Oath Keepers founder Steward Rhodes outside the Capitol on the day of the attack, volunteered for Lawyers for Trump and said she was general counsel for Oath Keepers, CNN reported. She told CBS News in January that she became acting president of the militia after Rhodes was arrested on charges of seditious conspiracy.

The grand jury indictment alleged in two counts that SoRelle conspired to "corruptly obstruct, influence, and impede an official proceeding, that is, Congress' certification of the Electoral College vote."

SoRelle is also charged with entering the restricted grounds of the Capitol. The final charge is for corruptly persuading and attempting to persuade people to withhold records, documents and other evidence from the grand jury. The count also alleges she tried to persuade others to "alter, destroy, mutilate and conceal" evidence.

The Justice Department has charged nine members of the Oath Keepers, including Rhodes, with seditious conspiracy for their alleged efforts to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election results.

SoRelle was not charged with seditious conspiracy.

Justice Department legal filings have detailed what it said were Oath Keepers preparations for violence in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

In February, a federal judge said Rhodes poses "a clear and convincing danger" and ordered him held in jail until his trial.