Former Trump appointee, Federico Klein, has been sentenced to 70 months in prison for his violent role in the January 6th Capitol insurrection. Klein was found guilty of multiple counts, including assaulting police officers during the breach. Judge Trevor McFadden, also a Trump appointee, called Klein’s actions “shocking and egregious” during the sentencing. The judge highlighted that Klein assaulted an officer during an initial breach on the Capitol grounds and engaged in further acts of violence against officers in the lower west terrace tunnel.
During the sentencing, former US Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell expressed disbelief at Klein’s involvement in the assault on the Capitol, stating that Klein had attacked him multiple times with a police riot shield. Prosecutors pointed out that Klein, a former Marine with a security clearance at the State Department, may have been motivated not only by trying to keep Trump as President but also by wanting to maintain his job as a political appointee. Images of Klein in the riot showed him using a police riot shield to assist rioters and fighting against a police line for several minutes.
Stanley Woodward, Klein’s attorney, argued in court that Klein had not intended to attack the Capitol and that no single person was responsible for the events of January 6th. Woodward also mentioned that Klein had worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign, trying to distance his actions from a betrayal of his military and State Department service, portraying it as being part of a protest that went wrong.
