WASHINGTON (AP) — A Marine Corps veteran who served as a politically appointed State Division official in former President Donald Trump’s administration was sentenced on Friday to almost six years in jail for attacking cops throughout the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol.
Federico Klein joined different Trump supporters in one of the crucial violent episodes of the Jan. 6 siege — a mob’s battle with outnumbered police for management of a tunnel entrance on the Capitol’s Decrease West Terrace. Klein repeatedly assaulted officers, urged different rioters to affix the fray and tried to cease police from shutting entrance doorways, in accordance with federal prosecutors.
Klein “waged a relentless siege on cops” as he tried to enter the Capitol and cease Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory over Trump, prosecutors stated in a court docket submitting.
Klein, who did not testify at his trial, declined to deal with the court docket earlier than U.S. District Choose Trevor McFadden sentenced him to 5 years and 10 months in jail.
“Your actions on January sixth had been stunning and egregious,” the decide instructed Klein.
McFadden additionally ordered Klein to pay a $3,000 fantastic and $2,000 in restitution. He’ll report back to jail at a date to be decided.
Klein labored within the State Division’s workplace of Brazilian and Southern Cone Affairs from 2017 till he resigned from that place on Jan. 19, 2021, a day earlier than Biden’s inauguration.
Prosecutors stated Klein’s participation within the riot was doubtless motivated by a need to maintain his job as a presidential appointee.
“As an worker of the federal authorities, Klein was endowed with the belief of the American folks and to uphold the legislation. He violated that belief on January 6 when he attacked the very nation for which he was paid to work,” prosecutors wrote.
Protection lawyer Stanley Woodward has accused prosecutors of exaggerating Klein’s position within the riot resulting from his political connection to the Trump administration.
“Accordingly, Mr. Klein ought to be sentenced for his precise position within the occasions of the day, and never the extra egregious conduct of others with which the federal government would have Mr. Klein be discovered responsible by affiliation,” Woodward wrote.
Prosecutors had really helpful a 10-year jail sentence for Klein, an Alexandria, Virginia, resident who was 42 years outdated on the time of the riot. Klein was arrested in March 2021.
In July 2023, McFadden heard trial testimony and not using a jury earlier than he convicted Klein and a co-defendant, Steven Cappuccio, of assault prices and different Capitol riot-related offenses.
Klein and Cappuccio had been amongst 9 defendants charged in a 53-count indictment. The decide convicted Klein of 12 counts, together with six assault prices.
Additionally on Friday, McFadden sentenced Cappuccio, 53, of Common Metropolis, Texas, to seven years and one month in jail, in accordance with a Justice Division information launch. Prosecutors had really helpful a jail sentence of 10 years and one month for Cappuccio, who was arrested at his dwelling in August 2021.
Klein and Cappuccio individually attended Trump’s “Cease the Steal” rally on Jan. 6 earlier than marching to the Capitol. Klein was within the first wave of rioters to enter the tunnel, in accordance with prosecutors. They stated he pushed laborious in opposition to officers, telling them, “You possibly can’t cease this!”
Klein additionally wedged a stolen police riot defend between two doorways, stopping officers from closing them, prosecutors stated. Video captured Klein encouraging different rioters to assault police, repeatedly yelling, “We’d like contemporary folks!”
McFadden instructed Klein on Friday that his conduct “extended the mayhem” within the tunnel.
“You had been entrance and heart in that chaos,” the decide stated.
Cappuccio yelled, “Storming the fortress, boys!” and chanted, “Battle for Trump!” and “Our home!” as he reached the Decrease West Terrace. Within the tunnel, he joined different rioters in pushing in opposition to the police line, prosecutors stated.
When one other rioter pinned Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges in opposition to a door, Cappuccio ripped a fuel masks off the officer’s face and dislodged his helmet, prosecutors stated.
Klein, who served within the Marine Corps for roughly 9 years, was deployed to Iraq as a fight engineer in 2005. In January 2017, he went to work for the State Division as a desk officer specializing within the South American area.
Klein additionally labored for Trump’s 2016 marketing campaign and took break day from work after the 2020 presidential election and traveled to Nevada to assist examine the baseless claims of voter fraud promoted by Trump and his allies, prosecutors stated.
Almost 1,200 folks have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 800 of them have pleaded responsible or been convicted by a jury or decide after a trial. Roughly 700 of them have been sentenced, with roughly two-thirds receiving phrases of imprisonment starting from three days to 22 years.
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