WASHINGTON — A former Trump political appointee charged with battling police during the Capitol riot told a federal judge his jail cell is crawling with insects.
Federico Klein, 42, was arrested Thursday and was held at the Washington, D.C., jail. During a brief court appearance by telephone Friday afternoon, he was advised of the six charges against him, two of which carry a maximum of 20 years in prison.
A hearing was set for Tuesday, March 9, on whether he must be detained pending trial.
When told he would remain in custody until next week’s hearing, he said, "I'm wondering if there's a place that I could stay in detention where I don't have cockroaches crawling everywhere while I attempt to sleep. I haven't slept very much. "
A public defender assured him he would be in a different cell Friday night.
Records show that Klein worked on the Trump campaign and became a low-level political appointee at the State Department shortly after former President Donald Trump took office. Klein resigned January 19, so he was still a federal employee on the day of the Capitol riot.
The FBI said in court documents that Klein can be seen on video recorded during the Jan. 6 riot resisting police officers, attempting to take items from them, and assaulting them with a riot shield. The documents allege he “violently shoved the shield into an officer’s body in an attempt to breach the police line."
It appears to be the first criminal case connected to a member of the Trump administration stemming from the Jan. 6 riot.
