Former Trump State Department official sentenced to prison for assaulting officers at Capitol riot

WASHINGTON (CN) — An ex-State Department employee appointed by former president Donald Trump was sentenced to nearly six years in prison Friday for his “shocking and egregious” assaults on police officers at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, which the federal judge amounted to a betrayal of his oath of office.

Federico Klein, 45, was identified as the first member of the Trump administration to be charged in connection with the riot, where a mob of the ex-president’s supporters sought to halt the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

According to theJustice Department’s sentencing memorandum — which recommended 10 years in prison — the former Marine assaulted multiple officers around the Lower West Terrace and a tunnel leading into the building, where some of the worst violence of the day occurred.

While in the tunnel, Klein shoved officers, stole a police riot shield and then wedged it between the doors leading into the building, forcing the doors open and depriving the outnumbered officers of the ability to create a barrier between them and the mob.

At a bench trial in July, Klein was convicted for six assaults, each against U.S. Capitol Police officers, as well as two additional felonies for civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding. Klein was tried along with co-defendant Steven Cappuccio, who attacked officers in the tunnel, pulling the gas mask off an officer’s face and beating them over the head with a police baton.

Klein and Cappuccio were among nine co-defendants who were charged in connection in connection to the brutal hand-to-hand combat that lasted hours, including a “heave-ho” effort by the rioters to use their overwhelming numbers to break through the police line.

Former Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell made an emotional statement before U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden passed down the 70-month sentence, recalling how Klein relentlessly attacked police and was one of the rioters whose actions forced him to retire from the force.

He noted that Klein, as a State Department employee, was attacking the very government he was a part of and had defended during his nine years in the Marine Corps. Both positions require an oath of office to defend the Constitution, which Gonell said he betrayed.

“He should be held to a different standard, like I would be held accountable,” Gonell said, calling on McFadden to order the maximum possible sentence.

Gonell added Klein could personally benefit from halting the certification, as he would be more likely to keep his job if Trump remained president.

Stanley Woodward, Klein’s defense attorney, asked for a much lighter sentence, 12-14 months, and argued that other Jan. 6 defendants who have been convicted of similar or worse conduct had received less than the decade behind bars the government recommended.

He added that the only reason his client attended the Stop the Steal rally before the riot began was so he could support Trump after he had spent months volunteering in Nevada to assist with “election integrity” efforts. According to Woodward, Klein had also been a part of Trump’s 2016 campaign and wanted to be there despite Trump’s 2020 loss.

Klein himself declined to make a statement.

Court records and previous media reporting have not identified his exact role at the State Department, only naming him as a mid-level aide.

During Friday’s proceedings, Justice Department prosecutor Kaitlin Klamann noted that Klein had had security clearance due to his role and raised concerns that someone with such access would join a violent mob and attack the Capitol.

McFadden, a Trump appointee, admonished Klein for his actions, which he said betrayed his oath of office and was likely a violation of the Hatch Act — a statute prohibiting civil employees of the executive branch from engaging in political acts and violations can lead to an employee being temporarily blacklisted from federal employment.

“I don’t remember seeing any case where someone attacked so many officers in such a short time,” McFadden added, highlighted by the fact that over 410 people have appeared before him and his colleagues at the federal courthouse in Washington on charges of assaulting officers.

For Gonell, the severity of Klein’s assaults and the sheer number of rioters who also inflicted life-changing pain on his fellow officers from the Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department justified harsh sentences.

“For us to have closure, the rioters who assaulted us need to be held accountable,” Gonell said.

In the 33 months since the Capitol riot, over 1,185 people have been charged for their actions on Jan. 6. To date, approximately 400 individuals have been sentenced to prison.

The Justice Department’s investigation is ongoing, with 304 unidentified individuals believed to have committed acts of violence at the riot.

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