Ex-DOJ official sounds alarm as Jan. 6 rioter hired for sensitive Defense post

A mob of supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump storm the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Leah Millis

Late Wednesday morning, June 3, the Washington Post reported that Elias Irizarry — who was convicted on federal charges for his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building — has been given a "post in the Defense Department's Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict office." Irizarry, according to Post reporters Tara Copp and Salvador Rizzo, now says he regrets his actions that day. But Anthony Coley, a former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) official, described the reported hiring of Irizarry as "deeply, deeply troubling" during an appearance on MS NOW.

Coley appeared with Copp and MS NOW's Erielle Reshef, who was filling in for the usual host Chris Jansing. Reshef noted that "January 6 rioter" Irizarry, according to Washington Post sources, will be working in an office that handles "highly classified military operations."

Coley, who served as DOJ director of public affairs under former President Joe Biden and ex-U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, told Reshef and Copp, "This is really deeply, deeply troubling. And it represents, I think, a key difference between what we saw in Trump 1.0 and Trump 2.0. In Trump 1.0, we had people at the White House, at the Pentagon, who resisted Donald Trump's very worst instincts. Right? The attorney general, (Bill Barr), refused to go along with his Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen. The defense secretary, (Mark Esper), refused to invoke the Insurrection Act against U.S. citizens who were protesting the brutal murder of George Floyd."

The former DOJ official continued, "And Trump 2.0., what we see from the very top, the highest levels of government on down to the lowest ranks of political appointees in the Pentagon and other places — all of those people in Trump 1.0 have been placed with rank loyalists. And I'm not talking about loyalty, Erielle, in the traditional sense of the word. I'm talking about loyalty in terms of blind obedience."

The reported hiring of a January 6 rioter to a position in the U.S. Department of Defense, Coley warned, underscores a broader problem in the second Trump administration.

Coley told Reshef and Copp, "The Trump administration, (Defense Secretary) Pete Hegseth and others — they are putting people in place, even in these discreet departments, who will do exactly what Donald Trump wants done despite what the facts are and despite what the law demands. And what we see…. is these decisions are making our country less safe, and they are potentially even endangering our troops. This story right here — very few things surprise me anymore, but this one, this one ranks pretty high."

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