A State Department political appointee of former President Donald Trump was sentenced to 70 months in prison Friday for crimes related to his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Federico Klein was convicted in July of eight felony charges, including assaulting law enforcement officers and obstructing an official proceeding.
DC US District Judge Trevor McFadden told Klein during the Friday sentencing hearing that his actions on the day were “shocking and egregious” and would have earned him a harsher sentence had he not already been confined at home for two years.
“This is a government of laws, not of men,” said McFadden, noting that Klein had tried to reverse that axiom — and remained remorseless, according to NBC News.
The Trump appointee, who was also convicted of misdemeanors for disorderly conduct, must serve an additional 24 months of supervised release at the end of his prison term, according to the DC US Attorney’s Office.
More than 1,000 rioters have been arrested for their attempts to halt the congressional certification of the 2020 election, with around 400 later receiving prison sentences.
Federal prosecutors argued Klein “was likely motivated by a personal benefit — namely, continued employment as a political appointee — when he attacked the US Capitol.”
“Hell yea, I’m going. I’m a Trump appointee,” he had said in a text message before the riot — and had also taken off time from his State Department duties to investigate claims of voter fraud in Las Vegas.
Klein worked in the State Department’s office of Brazilian and Southern Cone Affairs from 2017 until he resigned from that position on Jan. 19, 2021, a day before Biden’s inauguration.
He was among the first group of rioters to storm past barriers and overwhelm police officers on the Capitol grounds, later using a stolen police riot shield to battle with law enforcement as they tried to secure the tunnel entrance of the West Lower Terrace, according to the Justice Department.
Klein and a co-defendant, Steven Cappuccio, also led a mob in a “heave-ho” push against Capitol Police in the tunnel, squeezing one officer between metal doors and a riot shield.
Cappuccio then tore off the police officer’s gas mask and apparently shouted, “How do you like me now, f–ker?!” before striking the officer with his own baton.
“You can’t stop this!” Klein also yelled at one point.
Cappuccio was also due to be sentenced Friday after being convicted of six felony charges, including assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon, robbery, civil disorder and committing acts of physical violence on Capitol grounds.
The pair had faced a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison.
Attorney Stanley Woodward represented Klein and Cappuccio and is also representing Trump aides in connection with special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of the former president for allegedly retaining national security documents.
In court, Woodward reportedly said prosecutors were overly concerned with “the publicity” of the case, noting Klein was the first Trump administration employee to be arrested after Jan. 6.
He said Klein also knew that violence was not the proper response to civil disagreement.
“We don’t need a 10-year sentence for Mr. Klein to deter the general public,” Woodward said. “He is a changed man.”
Woodward declined to comment when reached by The Post.