Federico “Freddie” Klein — a Trump State Department aide, former campaign staffer, and Marine with a top-secret security clearance — is arrested for his involvement in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Klein was a tech analyst for the 2016 Trump campaign and served on the Trump transition team as a staff assistant to the State Department before joining the department officially.
He is charged with multiple felonies, including obstruction of an official proceeding, assault on police officers, and interfering with police during civil disorder.
The affidavit says video from police body-worn cameras on Jan. 6 shows Klein jamming a riot shield into doors at the Capitol as police were trying to secure them to keep the mob out. Klein was also heard on video trying to encourage others to clash with the police, the complaint says.
“We need fresh people, we need fresh people,” Klein shouted repeatedly, according to the complaint. In much of the video, he is wearing the Trump campaign’s trademark “Make America Great Again” red hat.
Politico
During Trump’s presidency, Klein worked in the State Department’s Office of Brazilian and Southern Cone Affairs before being transferred to the office that handles Freedom of Information Act requests. He was working in the department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs when he resigned on January 21.
Klein was issued a top-secret clearance by the Defense Department in 2014 when serving as a Marine in Iraq. That clearance was renewed in 2019 and is still active despite Klein not working for the DoD.
Before joining the Trump campaign, Klein worked as a researcher for the Family Research Council, an organization classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group. The Family Research Council is also strongly tied to the anti-democracy Council for National Policy.
