A Marine Corps veteran who served as a State Department political appointee under the former president

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The Trump administration was sentenced Friday to nearly six years in prison for attacking police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Federico Klein joined other Trump supporters in one of the most violent episodes of the Jan. 6 battle with outnumbered police for control of a tunnel entrance on the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace. Klein repeatedly attacked officers, urged other rioters to join the fight and tried to prevent police from closing the entry doors, federal prosecutors said.

Klein waged a brutal siege of police officers as he tried to enter the Capitol and stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump, prosecutors said in a lawsuit.

Klein, who did not testify at his trial, refused to address the court before U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden sentenced him to five years and 10 months in prison.

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Your actions on January 6 were shocking and egregious, the judge told Klein.

McFadden also ordered Klein to pay a $3,000 fine and $2,000 restitution. He will report to prison on a date to be determined.

Klein worked in the State Department’s office of Brazilian and Southern Cone Affairs from 2017 until he resigned on January 19, 2021, a day before Biden’s inauguration.

Prosecutors said Klein’s participation in the riot was likely motivated by a desire to keep his job as a presidential candidate.

As an employee of the federal government, Klein was endowed with the trust of the American people and upholding the law. He betrayed that trust when he attacked the land he was paid to work on Jan. 6, prosecutors wrote.

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Attorney Stanley Woodward has accused prosecutors of exaggerating Klein’s role in the riot because of his political ties to the Trump administration.

Accordingly, Mr. Klein should be convicted for his actual role in the day’s events, and not for the more egregious conduct of others of which the government would like to have Mr. Klein found guilty, Woodward wrote.

Prosecutors had recommended a 10-year prison sentence for Klein, a resident of Alexandria, Virginia, who was 42 at the time of the riot. Klein was arrested in March 2021.

In July 2023, McFadden heard non-jury testimony before finding Klein and a co-defendant, Steven Cappuccio, guilty of assault and other riot-related crimes at the Capitol.

Klein and Cappuccio were among nine defendants charged in a 53-count indictment. The judge found Klein guilty of twelve charges, including six assaults.

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McFadden was scheduled to sentence Cappuccio later on Friday. McFadden allowed Klein to remain free under house arrest after his conviction, but ordered Cappuccio imprisoned immediately after the verdict.

Prosecutors have recommended a prison sentence of 10 years and one month for Cappuccio, who was arrested in August 2021 at his home in Universal City, Texas.

Klein and Cappuccio separately attended Trump’s Stop the Steal rally on January 6 before marching to the Capitol. Klein was among the first wave of rioters to enter the tunnel, according to prosecutors. They said he pushed the officers hard and told them, “You can’t stop this!”

Klein also wedged a stolen police riot shield between two doors, preventing officers from closing them, prosecutors said. Video captured Klein encouraging other rioters to attack police while repeatedly shouting, We need new people!

McFadden told Klein on Friday that his prolonged behavior caused the chaos in the tunnel.

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“You were at the center of that chaos,” the judge said.

Cappuccio shouted: Storm the castle, boys! and sang: Fight for Trump! and: Our house! when he reached the Lower West Terrace. Inside the tunnel, he joined other rioters and pushed against police lines, prosecutors said.

When another rioter pushed police officer Daniel Hodges against a door, Cappuccio ripped a gas mask from the officer’s face and unhooked his helmet, prosecutors said.

Klein, who served in the Marine Corps for about nine years, deployed to Iraq in 2005 as a combat engineer. In January 2017, he started working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a bureau officer, specializing in the South American region.

Klein also worked for Trump’s 2016 campaign, taking time off work after the 2020 presidential election and traveling to Nevada to help investigate the baseless claims of voter fraud promoted by Trump and his allies, prosecutors said.

Nearly 1,200 people have been charged with crimes related to the Capitol riot. More than 800 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury or judge after a trial. About 700 of them have been convicted, with roughly two-thirds receiving prison sentences ranging from three days to 22 years.