Late on Thursday, Politico reported that the FBI had arrested Federico Klein. The 42-year-old Klein was a former State Department aide under Donald Trump. This is reportedly the first example of an actual Trump appointee being arrested in connection with the attempted coup at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6. Before being hired to the State Department, Klein worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign. He faces multiple charges including “knowingly enter or remain in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority to do; knowingly, and with intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions,” engaging in that disruption, and finally, “knowingly engage in any act of physical violence against any person or property in any restricted building or grounds; or attempts or conspires to do so.”
Using U.S. Capitol Police body camera footage as well as other security footage of the event, the FBI places Klein at the front of the mob, breaking the law both physically and verbally. According to the FBI complaint, Klein called back into the mob for reinforcements when confronted by Capitol officers holding the line. Klein was identified by tipsters after his image was included in one of the FBI’s suspect posters, which led them to Klein’s Facebook page. Klein’s mother spoke to Politico and said that she knew her son was on the D.C. Mall that day, but did not know he had been a part of the siege.
The New York Times published the FBI’s filed complaint against Klein, which includes numerous images of a MAGA hat-wearing Klein at various stages of the breach at the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol building on Jan. 6. According to the report, Klein assaulted officers, stole a riot shield (which he used to try and force entry into the building), and led a group of insurgents in the hopes of gaining forceful entry into an area being blockaded by Capitol Police. Klein also supposedly changed from one red Make America Great Again hat into a red United States Marine Corps cap at one point during the attack.
According to the FBI, Klein was finally pushed back after an “irritant” was used by officers. The Washington Post reports that Klein “had a top-secret security clearance that was renewed in 2019.” After receiving $15,000 for working on the Trump campaign, Klein was paid $66,510 working as a “special assistant in the Office of Brazilian and Southern Cone Affairs” in Trump’s State Department. The Times calls Klein a “former midlevel aide.”