Republicans have spent months now insisting that the rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6 were not supporters of Donald Trump, a claim that, obviously, has no basis in reality. For one thing, a number of the people who’ve been arrested in connection with the insurrection have literally described themselves as supporters of the ex-president who were acting on his orders. For another, on Thursday, the FBI arrested a Trump-campaign staffer turned political appointee who worked at the State Department and proudly sported a MAGA hat while allegedly beating assaulting a Capitol police officer on the day of the riot.
According to a criminal complaint first obtained by The New York Times, Federico Klein, a State Department staff assistant who held top-secret clearance until he resigned on January 19, has been hit with numerous charges related to his role in the failed coup, including unlawful entry and assaulting an officer with a dangerous weapon. Prosecutors allege that he “physically and verbally engaged with the officers holding the line” before attacking one with a stolen riot shield, and also used said shield “as a wedge in the door to the Capitol” to allow more rioters inside. Video also shows Klein “inciting the mob” and yelling to the crowd behind him “we need fresh people, we need fresh people” over and over.
The complaint also notes that on January 21, one day after the FBI posted a request for public assistance in identifying a number of people who broke into the Capitol, an anonymous individual submitted a tip to the bureau saying one of the men in the photos resembled Klein, who goes by “Freddie Klein” on Facebook. On January 25, another tipster alerted the feds to Klein’s Facebook account, which includes photos of him decked out in MAGA gear.
Appearing in prison on Friday, Klein, who did not enter a plea deal, complained about the conditions in prison, which have led to him missing out on beauty sleep. “I wonder if there’s a place where I can stay in detention where I don’t have cockroaches crawling over me while I attempt to sleep,” he said. “I mean, I really haven’t slept all that much, your honor. It would be nice if I could sleep in a place where there were not cockroaches everywhere.” (U.S. Magistrate Zia M. Faruqui told Klein that his concerns would be addressed if the conditions were in fact unsafe or dirty.) Klein is not the first person arrested in connection with the riot to complain that prison hasn’t met his high standards. Last month, Jacob Chansley, better known as the “QAnon Shaman,” aka the rioter who stormed the Capitol dressed in horns, a fur headdress, and face paint, demanded that the prison he’s been held in serve him organic food in supposed accordance with his religion, a request that was granted.
On Thursday night, Klein’s mother told Politico that he’d told her he was on the Mall on January 6 but she doesn’t “have any evidence, nor will I ever ask him, unless he tells me, where he was after he was on the Mall.
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Andrew Cuomo’s nursing home scandal has somehow gotten worse
Allegedly covering up the thousands of nursing home deaths was bad enough but now a new report suggests the distinct possibility he did so to sell more future books. Per the New York Times: