Trump appointee arrested in connection with Capitol riot

The FBI on Thursday arrested Federico Klein, a former State Department aide, on charges related to the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, marking the first known instance of an appointee of President Donald Trump facing criminal prosecution in connection with the attempt to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory.

Klein, 42, was taken into custody in Virginia, said Samantha Shero, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

An FBI lookout bulletin issued two weeks after the Capitol assault included a photo of Klein, prompting two tipsters to contact the FBI and finger him as the man in that picture, according to an affidavit filed in federal court in Washington.

The affidavit says video from police body-worn cameras on Jan. 6 shows Klein jamming a riot shield into doors at the Capitol as police were trying to secure them to keep the mob out. Klein was also heard on video trying to encourage others to clash with the police, the complaint says.

"We need fresh people, we need fresh people,” Klein shouted repeatedly, according to the complaint. In much of the video, he is wearing the Trump campaign's trademark "Make America Great Again" red hat.

Klein is charged with several felonies, including assault on police officers, interfering with police during civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding, as well as lesser offenses.

During a brief first court appearance Friday afternoon, Klein complained about the conditions where he was held overnight at the central cell block at Metropolitan Police Headquarters in Washington.

“I’m wondering if there’s a place I could stay in detention where I don’t have cockroaches crawling over me while I’m trying to sleep,” Klein told U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui. “I haven’t really slept all that much, your Honor. It would be nice if between now and Tuesday I could sleep in a place where there are not cockroaches all over.”

Faruqui said he’d address any complaints Klein had about the conditions, but that he would likely be moved to another location later Friday.

No plea was entered Friday, but the magistrate detailed the charges Faruqui faces and noted that those of assaulting a police officer and obstructing Congress carry potential maximum sentences of 20 years in prison.

The judge said Klein indicated he wanted to hire an attorney, but the defendant said he hasn’t made much progress on that front. “It’s really impossible to do anything from my cell at this point,” he said.

Prosecutors asked that Klein be detained pending trial. Faruqui set a bail hearing for Tuesday afternoon, saying he wanted to move briskly on the issue but also give Klein enough time to find a lawyer.

“I don’t want you to just be on hold, in purgatory, while you sort out your counsel,” the judge said.

Klein worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign and was then hired at the State Department. As of last summer, he was listed in a federal directory as serving as a special assistant in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs and was designated as a “Schedule C” political appointee.

A Department spokesperson confirmed that position Friday morning, saying Klein resigned effective Jan. 21, 2021. She also said Klein started out at the department as a staff assistant with the Trump transition team.