WASHINGTON — A former Donald Trump political appointee at the State Department who tried to storm the Capitol and assaulted law enforcement officers on Jan. 6 was sentenced to 70 months in prison on Friday.
Federico Klein was arrested in March 2021 and convicted of eight felonies as well as misdemeanor offenses by U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden, also a Trump appointee, in July 2023 following a bench trial.
The government had sought 10 years in federal prison for Klein, saying he “was likely motivated by a personal benefit — namely, continued employment as a political appointee — when he attacked the U.S. Capitol.” They pointed to messages he sent ahead of Jan. 6 — “Hell yea I’m going. I’m a Trump appointee” — as well as the fact that he “took time off from work at the State Department to volunteer to travel to Las Vegas” to investigate the false claims that the Trump campaign was making about mass voter fraud.
“You can’t stop this!” Klein yelled during one of the assaults in the lower west tunnel at the U.S. Capitol, which was the site of some of the worst violence of the attack. At one point, prosecutors said, Klein “wedged a police riot shield in between the doors, helping to force the doors back open and allowing rioters to continue their assaults on police.”
McFadden imposed the sentence following a sentencing hearing on Friday. Klein was represented by attorney Stanley Woodward, who represents several Trump aides who have been caught up in federal investigations surrounding the former president.
More than 1,100 people have been arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and more than 400 have received terms of incarceration. The longest prison sentence handed out so far went to former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
