Prosecutors say Federico Klein, who was identified as a selection for the State Department of then-President Donald Trump, should receive ten years in prison after his conviction on charges stemming from his part in the January 6, 2021, violence at the Capitol.
He was convicted of serious charges, including assault on police. During the day’s chaos, Klein joined members of the mob in the tunnel at the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace, where rioting Trump supporters meted out some of the most physically damaging violence seen that day. As outlined in a previous press release from the federal Justice Department, Klein apparently used the weight of his body to push against and fight police, including by joining the rhythmic rocking in the tunnel as rioters tried to use their collective weight to somehow force police out of the way.
“Klein then participated in another “heave-ho” push against police and actively resisted the police officers’ efforts to move him out of the tunnel by aggressively pushing a stolen riot shield against the police line and using the weight of his body to press forward,” per that federal release. He was reportedly in the tunnel for approximately 30 minutes, and Klein was later convicted at a bench trial, meaning trial proceedings decided by a judge instead of a jury. Most of Klein’s eight charges of which he was convicted were individual counts related to his conduct against police. The list, in total, had six counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and aiding and abetting.
Meanwhile, prosecutors also want Klein to be fined over $47,000. Their filing that outlines the government’s recommendations for his sentencing says the 120 months for which they’re hoping is “near the midpoint of the Guidelines range” — which, while a factor, is not binding on the federal judges who have decided and continue to decide on rioters’ sentences.
Elsewhere at the federal level, prosecutors led by Special Counsel Jack Smith have repeatedly tied ex-President Donald Trump’s rhetoric to real-world violence including what happened at the Capitol, now pushing similar arguments in the context of continuing hopes for a gag order in the case accusing Trump of election targeting.
