A judge has ruled that a Trump-appointed State Department employee will remain in prison after being arrested last week for his alleged involvement in the deadly January 6 Capitol riot.
Federico Klein was arrested by the FBI in connection with the Capitol riot last Thursday. Klein is believed to be Trump’s first political appointee accused by authorities of involvement in the riot. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was appointed as an appointee from 2017 until he stepped down on January 21 of this year.
“The suspect has put himself in that chaotic riot,” said judge Zia Faruqui in his ruling, Business Insider said. “This was a group of people trying to do one thing, and that is to stop democracy.”
Business Insider reported that prosecutors claimed that Klein was among the first group to enter the Capitol, fought with police officers, and encouraged others to enter.
“Federico Klein chose to put himself in the midst of the violence to break through the center doorway on the Lower West Terrace to gain access to the Capitol,” prosecutors wrote in a detention memo obtained by Business Insider“He used physical violence against agents protecting the entrance, and his individual participation in the larger crowd amplified the overall violence and danger of the day.”
Klein is facing six charges, including assault, resisting or obstructing certain weapons, and violent and disorderly conduct on Capitol Grounds. He was reportedly part of a crowd attempting to break through the Lower West Terrace entrance to the Capitol and was seen pushing a riot shield at a police officer.
While in the State Department, Klein worked as a staff member on the transition team and as a special assistant at the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.