A former State Department employee appointed by Donald Trump will spend nearly six years behind bars for his role in the violent mob that attacked the US Capitol on January 6. Federico Klein, 45, was sentenced to 70 months in prison on Friday after being convicted of fighting with police during the Capitol attack.
According to prosecutors, Klein was among a group of rioters that overwhelmed police on Capitol grounds before joining the mob at the tunnel entrance of the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol building. He was accused of fighting with police, trying to keep the crowd from breaching the building, and repeatedly participating in the “heave-ho” effort to push past law enforcement.
During the chaos of January 6, Klein demonstrated aggressive behavior. He pushed a stolen police riot shield against the line of cops and used his body weight to press forward. He also used a stolen riot shield as a wedge in an attempt to stop police from closing a door against the crowd. Even after being ejected from the tunnel, Klein remained at the front of the mob for almost an hour, using the stolen riot shield to push against police.
US District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, presided over Klein’s sentencing hearing and expressed his disapproval of Klein’s actions. “Your actions on January 6 were shocking and egregious,” Judge McFadden stated. He emphasized that the United States is a government of laws, not of men.
Klein did not speak on his behalf at his sentencing, and Judge McFadden noted that he did not show remorse for his actions. This lack of guilt may have played a role in the severity of the sentence.
Former Trump State Department Employee Gets 70-Month Sentence
Klein was convicted in July of eight federal charges, including six counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, civil disorder, and obstruction of an official proceeding. The verdict came after a bench trial before Judge McFadden, who was the first federal judge in the District of Columbia overseeing the January 6 cases to acquit an accused rioter. Despite facing a maximum of 20 years behind bars, Klein was sentenced to 70 months.
Prosecutors had sought a 10-year sentence for Klein, arguing that he engaged in a “prolonged and violent attack against officers protecting the Capitol on January 6 to prevent the peaceful transition of Presidential power to reflect the results of a free and fair election.” They also pointed out that, as a federal appointee, Klein had violated his obligations to the American people.
Klein’s role as a Schedule-C political appointee at the State Department was highlighted in federal documents. He has been working there since 2017 in the office of Brazilian and Southern Cone Affairs. A co-worker identified Klein to federal investigators, recalling that he remained at the State Department until January 19, 2021, shortly before President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Klein’s lawyer, Stanley Woodward, requested a sentence of 40 days in prison, which aligns with the exact length of time Klein spent in pretrial detention before being released.
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