Politics- A former Trump-appointee who was arrested in connection to the
Capitol riot , was added to a sprawling indictment on Thursday. - Prosecutors allege
Federico Klein is among nine people who assaulted officers in the Capitol tunnel. - Klein once held a "top secret" security clearance and also worked on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
A former State Department aide appointed by former President Donald Trump, who was arrested earlier this year in connection with the January 6 Capitol riot, was hit with charges of six counts of assaulting police officers on Thursday as part of a nine-person, sprawling government indictment.
Federico Klein, 42, of Annandale, Virginia, is the first known Trump appointee facing charges related to the Capitol insurrection. Prosecutors allege that Klein was "among the first wave of rioters" to storm the Capitol building on
Klein, who previously worked on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, joined the State Department as a staff assistant shortly after Trump was inaugurated in 2017, according to USA Today. At the time of the January 6 siege, Klein held a "top secret" security clearance. He resigned on January 19, one day before Joe Biden was inaugurated.
Prosecutors allege that Klein, along with others, ignored six direct orders from police officers to back away from the Capitol's West Terrace around 2:45 pm on January 6. According to court documents, Klein "shoved" a shield into an open door in an attempt to hinder officers' attempts to secure the doorway. Prosecutors say Klein remained at the front of the mob "battling" officers, before shoving a stolen riot shield into police bodies.
After an officer sprayed a chemical irritant, Klein retreated, court records say. The government employee then made his way to the Capitol tunnel.
Bodycam footage released in July shows a man the DOJ identified as Klein pushing through a mob of people in the Capitol tunnel and trying to steal an officer's riot shield, according to court documents. Prosecutors allege Klein also incited the crowd by shouting "We need fresh people" multiple times and "physically" fought with officers.
-Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) August 12, 2021
He now faces 12 counts, up from a previous eight.
A federal judge ruled in March that Klein would stay in jail until his trial, but US District Judge John D. Bates ordered Klein released on home detention in April. While Bates acknowledged that Klein "demonstrated willingness to use force to advance his personal beliefs," the judge also noted at the time that prosecutors had failed to provide evidence that Klein "injured an officer or anyone else."
Two additional men were also added to the government's indictment on Thursday. David Mehaffie of Ohio, Steven Cappuccio of Texas, and Klein join six other defendants accused of some of the most violent attacks against police officers on the Capitol grounds that day.
A lawyer for Klein declined to comment on the charges, while lawyers for Mehaffie, and Cappuccio did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The fifty-two count indictment, which Insider reviewed, alleges the nine men "willfully and knowingly engaged in disorderly and disruptive conduct in any of the Capitol Buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, and disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress..."
The Capitol tunnel bore witness to some of the most sustained assaults on police officers during the January insurrection, where prosecutors say rioters used a slew of improvised weapons to attack police multiple times.
Patrick McCaughey III, Tristan Chandler Stevens, David Lee Judd, Christopher Joseph Quaglin, Robert Morss, and Geoffrey William Sills are the other defendants named in the indictment.