Who is Federico Klein? Trump aide who worked at State department and assaulted cops during Capitol riots arrested
A former State Department aide has been arrested by the FBI in connection to the January 6 Capitol riots that claimed the lives of five people, including a police officer. Samantha Shero, a spokesperson for the Bureau's Washington Field Office, said Federico Klein was arrested on Thursday, March 4, in Virginia for charges, including unlawful entry, violent and disorderly conduct, obstructing Congress and law enforcement, and assaulting an officer with a dangerous weapon.
Capitol riots videos showed Klein in a "Make America Great Again" red cap while assaulting officers with a riot shield. A court document filed by the FBI stated that at the time of the offense, Klein was an appointee of former President Donald Trump as he was still employed by the State Department and had a Top Secret security clearance. His now-deleted LinkedIn account says he was in possession of Top Secret clearance, issued by the Defense Department, from 2014 to 2019, which was later renewed, court documents stated.
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The 42-year-old suspected rioter’s arrest came after a member of the public identified him in the FBI’s poster and pointed them to his Facebook page. One more person came in to help the authorities as they claimed they knew the man pictured on the poster by the name of "Freddie Klein."
Federal Election Commission records showed that Klein was appointed as a "tech analyst” on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. The record also stated that upon joining, he was given $15,000, and an extra $5,000 by the campaign in 2017. As per reports, the accused also worked as a special assistant in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs in the summer of 2020. His earlier professional career was serving the pro-life, pro-marriage Family Research Council as a researcher, and as a Republican state convention delegate in Virginia.
Klein’s mother, Cecilia, told Politico in a telephone interview that she had a discussion with her son related to the Capitol building violence and that he confirmed to her he was in the capital when the 'insurrection took place'. “As far as I know, he was on the Mall. That’s what he told me,” Cecilia, a retired trade official and economist, said, before adding: “Fred’s politics burn a little hot, but I’ve never known him to violate the law... While I believe, as he said, he was on the Mall that day, I don’t have any evidence, nor will I ever ask him, unless he tells me, where he was after he was on the Mall.”
Earlier, another suspected rioter was arrested and charged after his family turned him to the FBI. Grayson Sherrill was taken into custody on March 1 after the authorities issued photographs of him as part of a public appeal to identify those who were part of the deadly protests in Washington, DC. in early January. Sherrill was pressed with numerous charges, including knowingly entering and remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; knowingly engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted area; and violent and disorderly conduct.