Olympic gold medalist Klete Keller pleaded guilty to obstruction of an official proceeding on Wednesday as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors in connection with the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, NBC News reported.
The felony charge carries a maximum sentencing of 20 years, though Keller will likely receive far less time.
The 6-foot-6 Keller, a three-time Olympian and five-time medalist in swimming, was identified in pictures and video inside the Capitol wearing his United States Olympic Team jacket. Keller originally pleaded not guilty to the seven charges he faced, including:
- Civil disorder
- Obstruction of an official proceeding, and aiding and abetting
- Entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds
- Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds
- Impeding passage through the Capitol Grounds or buildings
- Parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building
Keller and his attorney, Edward McMahon, did not take questions or provide comment when arriving at court or when leaving, per WSUA9’s Eric Flack. MacMahon reportedly told the judge that Keller “is trying to make amends for his terrible mistake” and “wants to start his life over.”
👀OLYMPIAN ARRIVES AT COURT👀
Former gold medal swimmer Klete Keller was not answering my questions as he arrived at US District Court Wednesday to plead guilty in the #CaptiolRiots. Keller is facing 7 criminal counts including obstruction, a felony. @wusa9 @9NEWS @USASwimming pic.twitter.com/AtfspzoBEB— Eric Flack (@EricFlackTV) September 29, 2021
The 39-year-old Keller admitted to spending “a little less than one hour” inside the Capitol as part of an attempt to stop or delay certification of the Electoral College vote for the 2020 Presidential election. He also said he took phone photos and videos inside the Capitol, then destroyed the phone, its memory card, and threw away the Team USA jacket within 48 hours.
According to his plea, Keller yelled “F*** Nancy Pelosi!” and “F*** Chuck Schumer!” when he was in the rotunda.
After he was first charged, Keller turned himself in to federal authorities on Jan. 14. He initially pleaded not guilty to all seven charges.
Keller’s sentencing range is 21-27 months, the judge reportedly said, but the court still has to form an independent evaluation, so that could change. As part of the deal, Keller will cooperate with investigators until his sentencing in return for dropping his six other charges, and potentially a lighter sentence.
Click here to view Keller’s signed plea agreement and here to view his signed statement of offense.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, more than 600 individuals have been arrested in connection with the riot.
GOAT
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
F@&cked around…and found out. This is what the early stages of a fascist state look like. Claiming fraud every time one of yours loses, gerrymandered districts, and suppressing votes. Do not @ me with both sides BS.
*inserts Michael Jackson eating popcorn gif*
Throw the book at him
Here for the comments …..
Every time I see another Klete Keller article, I read through the comments just to feel something again. Works like a charm.
I was appalled to see the events on January 6. Seeing that Klete Keller was involved will forever taint my favorite Olympic swimming moment, which was team USA taking gold in the 4×200 in 2004. That said, he has owned his mistake. He plead guilty to a felony. He will probably serve time in prison. He is cooperating with the investigation. He will probably never be able to get a decent job. He will probably never get any custody of his kids. He will never be allowed to vote again. He is paying the price for his actions. What he did was very bad, but he has taken the first step towards accountability.
Nothing Keller did tainted or didn’t taint anything that I’ve ever seen, learned, known, or done. He won’t serve time in prison. He’ll get a decent job. He’ll be able to see his kids. He’ll be able to, eventually, vote again. It’s okay. We’re all adults here. Keller will be just fine, as long as a bunch of cancel-culture haters don’t stalk him to the ends of the Earth.
And yes, I do agree with you that he has made a good beginning of making things better for himself, by acknowledging his difficulties and wrongdoings.
He will serve prison time. There is no parole in the federal system.
“Keller admitted to obstructing an official proceeding, after prosecutors agreed to drop six other criminal charges they brought against him in February.”
We’ll see, won’t we? Obstruction, My Lord..!! Obstruction..!! The horror..!! The horror..!!
Old Retired White Guy: you’ve seen the Capitol attacked? You were around in 1814? What are your skin care secrets?
Well, Captain Snarky of the Lower Echelons, you’re just heaping on the FAIL this morning, aren’t you? In addition to being many, many other things (like being a past D1 school record-holding full scholarship swimmer, a few different kinds of medically-stricken person, someone who is, this semester, accomplishing a Baccalaureate Degree — BAS in Supervision and Management, etc., etc.) I’m also ex-military (a non-com officer of no special importance), and I can tell you that the folk that showed up at the Capitol on the 6th of Jan. had no weapons to speak of, no plan of occupation (you know, a necessary part of “overthrowing” a government), no logistics plan, no government-replacement plan, no plan, really, of any sort whatsoever,… Read more »
In spite of your credentials, your assertion that there were no weapons at the Capitol that day is false, though President Trump claimed it on several occasions:
https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/politifact/2021/07/14/some-jan-6-capitol-rioters-were-armed-guns-documents-show/7963993002/
You’re an Admin/Owner, so I’ll tread lightly here. First, I did not say that they had no weapons. I said that they had no weapons to speak of, which is correct. From the article that you referenced:
“several had guns that police later seized. “
Then, from the wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_United_States_Capitol_attack (a fair enough resource) “thousands of attendees walked to the Capitol and hundreds breached police perimeters”
To be fair, again, we can call the number, say, 2,000 protestors, since articles refer to “thousands” Probably, there were more. Now, I have no doubt that you’re proficient in math. 3 out of 2000 is .15% or .0015 of “rioters” who had firearms. My “credentials”… Read more »
Thanks Braden. But arguing with an entrenched old stiff-minded know-it-all who gets his news from right wing media outlets all day is not going to get you anywhere. Don’t know who this guy is but he’s just dead wrong and angling to be on the wrong side of history. Not a great legacy for a retiree.
You’re hiring felons at your retirement home?!
Really hate to get Klete’s taint all over everything, but that’s really what he’s done here.
Keller didn’t do jack squat. He pleaded guilty to obstructing an official proceeding. That’s it. Maybe you like imagining… no, wait, I’d better not write what I was going to write, because, well, it would be wrong, and you might also give me the SwimSwam boot, which I would, for the record’s sake, like to avoid….. heh.
Just be patient Old Retired Guy. Once the full story is out, you’ll see that he was a little more aggressive than initially thought.
He’s not “put a bullet in Nancy Pelosi’s head” aggressive. But he’s not totally innocent either.
It’s pretty much done. His plea to one count of obstructing an official proceeding has been accepted, and now all that is left is the sentencing date. The FBI initially wanted to charge him with 3 charges, but prosecutors wanted to trump up charges (pun not intended) to discourage others, and so had him charged with 4 additional charges, totaling 7 charges Now it’s done and over with him pleading guilty to one charge Just be patient. You’ll see that he was overcharged for no good reason.
Dog you need to get some friends in real life an get off the internet for awhile! You’re retired go do something away from a keyboard!
Thanks for the unsolicited advice It’s wasted on me. I have plenty of friends. Take your own advice. Go work hard. Make real friends. Stop letting other people think for you. Stop trying to tell other adults what to do. Get off the Internet during working hours, “Dog”. Getting the message?