Trump official sentenced to 70 months in prison for participating in January 6 insurrection

Federico Klein, who served as a political appointee in former President Donald Trump's State Department and who had a top secret security clearance, is now headed to federal prison for the next 70 months.

NBC News reported that Klein's sentence comes several months following his conviction on eight felony counts in July, after initially being arrested in March of 2021. Those counts include charges involved with assaulting US Capitol Police and Washington, DC Metro Police officers, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and obstruction of Congress. The Department of Justice initially sought a 10-year sentence for Klein.

Prosecutors argued for Klein's conviction showing messages he sent prior to storming the US Capitol in which he said "hell yea I'm going [to the January 6 rally]. I'm a Trump appointee."

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The Department of Justice argued during Klein's trial that he "was likely motivated by a personal benefit — namely, continued employment as a political appointee — when he attacked the U.S. Capitol."

Klein did far more than merely attend the initial rally on the morning of January 6; prosecutors noted that at one point, he "wedged a police riot shield in between the doors, helping to force the doors back open and allowing rioters to continue their assaults on police." Additional court documents described how Klein "violently shoved the shield into an officer’s body in an attempt to breach the police line" in the riot that ultimately led to the deaths of five Capitol and DC Metro police officers.

The FBI was only able to arrest Klein after receiving tips from members of the public in response to photos of insurrectionists the bureau released. His mother, Cecilia, told reporters that she didn't know of her son's arrest until Politico contacted her for comment.

"I asked him — he said 'I was on the Mall.' I said, 'did you go on the Capitol grounds?' He said 'no I did not, I was on the Mall,'" Cecilia Klein said.

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Prior to being appointed as a special assistant in the State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs in 2017, Klein — a Virginia resident — worked on Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.