The Daily Beast
The Trump State Department aide, accused of beating police officers during a riot, is already hating the prison
Criminal complaint A Trump nominee, who was still working at the State Department when he allegedly attacked the United States Capitol police with a riot shield and instigated a mob of rebels, was arrested for his role on January 6. Federico Klein, 42 – One-year State Department staff assistant with high security clearance is facing a range of charges, including illegal entry and assaulting a police officer with a dangerous weapon, according to a criminal complaint first obtained by The New York Times. Prosecutors allege that Klein, who also worked on the Trump campaign in 2016, “became physically and verbally involved with the officers who held the line” before assaulting a police officer with a riot shield – and using that stolen police equipment to open a door to the Capitol to allow insurrectionists inside. “We need new people, we need new people!” Klein, who is wearing a red MAGA cap, is heard shouting in a YouTube video as people break into the building and the police are struggling to contain the crowd. Criminal complaint During his first court hearing on Friday, Klein’s appetite for chaos had waned. After Judge Zia Faruqui read her accusations to Klein, Klein made it clear that he was not happy with the conditions of a DC prison. “I wonder if there is a place where I can be detained where I don’t have cockroaches crawling over me while I try to sleep … I mean, I didn’t really sleep much, Your Honor. It would be nice if I could sleep in a place where there were no cockroaches everywhere, ”said Klein, according to The Washington Post. Prosecutors argued on Friday that Klein should be detained until trial because he assaulted a police officer. A federal defender, however, insisted that Klein’s charges are not a crime of violence and that he should be released under appropriate conditions. Klein’s arrest on Thursday night in Virginia, first reported by the Politico, marked the first time that a member of the Trump administration has faced charges related to the deadly siege. More than 300 people were charged with connection to the riot that followed a Trump speech in which he flogged the false claim that he had won the November 2020 election. According to the complaint, Klein was identified by people who saw the FBI social- media campaign with photos of protesters on Capitol Hill. The FBI also noted that he still had top secret authorization for his work at the Brazilian Affairs and Southern Cone office until his resignation on January 19. Another informant signaled the feds to Klein’s Facebook account, which was under the name “Freddie Klein,” according to court documents. On Klein’s Facebook page, he is seen in pictures among a group covered in MAGA equipment – and on another enjoying several Miller High Lifes. According to a ProPublica database of Trump nominees, Klein worked as a special assistant at the Office of the Brazilian and Southern Affairs Cone after joining the State Department on January 22, 2017, where he received $ 66,510. “It’s not fair!”: Rioter who posed in Pelosi’s office loses in court. A LinkedIn profile identified as Klein’s also states that he has been politically active in the Republican Party since at least 2008, when he started volunteering for campaigns. Klein worked for the Trump campaign shortly before going to work for the State Department. Klein’s mother, Cecilia Klein, told Politico that her son admitted to being in Washington on January 6 – but told her that he was just “at the Mall. That’s what he told me. “” Fred’s policy burns a little … but I never saw him break the law … Although I believe, as he said, that he was at the mall that day, I have no evidence, nor will I ask him, unless he tells me, where he was after he was at the mall, ”she added. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top news in your inbox every day. Subscribe now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper into the stories that matter to you. To know more.