Former Oath Keepers lawyer pleads guilty to obstruction related to US Capitol riot

An attorney for the far-right Oath Keepers pleaded guilty Wednesday to instructing members of the far-right group to delete their text messages after the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot on behalf of its leader Stewart Rhodes.

Kellye SoRelle, an attorney who volunteered for Lawyers for Trump during efforts to challenge the 2020 election results, was first charged in 2022. The judge overseeing her case, however, temporarily ruled that she was incompetent to stand trial and sent SoRelle to a federal custody for mental health treatment.

Wednesday, she pleaded guilty to charges including tampering with evidence, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. SoRelle will be sentenced in January.

SoRelle had close ties to pro-Trump and “Stop the Steal” groups in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, according to court documents and her own public statements. She is also the former girlfriend of Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers, and has claimed to be the general counsel for the militia.

Rhodes was charged in one of the highest-profile prosecutions to arise out of the January 6 Capitol riot. He and several of his followers were convicted of seditious conspiracy for concocting a far-reaching plot to keep then-President Donald Trump in power after he lost his reelection bid. Rhodes was sentenced last year to serve 18 years in prison.

Prosecutors showed evidence at Rhodes’ trial which they claimed showed how the militia leader and SoRelle worked together in the weeks surrounding the riot. SoRelle was present at an infamous underground meeting the evening before the riot that both Rhodes and a leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, attended.

She was also photographed with Rhodes outside of the Capitol while the violence unfolded, prosecutors have said, and sent messages on behalf of Rhodes to his followers as they drove back to Texas after January 6, including one that instructed them to “clean up” their chats.

“I typed that on his behalf, and I understood that he was directing his crew,” SoRelle said Wednesday of the message.