Federico Klein

A graduate of George Mason University, Freddie was appointed by Donald Trump to the State Department’s office of Brazilian and Southern Cone Affairs. Before that, Freddie served as a Republican state convention delegate in Virginia and worked as a researcher for the conservative Family Research Council, a pro-marriage and pro-life think tank. 

After the election, Freddie was floored.  It was bad enough that Trump was denied a second term but he strongly believed that the election was ‘stolen’, so much so that weeks after the election, Freddie took time off from the State Department to travel to Las Vegas, Nevada. He was part of a volunteer team that investigated allegations of voter fraud. Because of this strong belief and his participation in the effort, he was also keenly aware of the options available to challenge the election results. Freddie resigned his State Department position on Jan. 19, 2021, a day before President Joe Biden’s inauguration, as did the majority of Trump appointees. 

On January 6^th, Freddie clashed with police in “the tunnel” and reportedly was there for about an hour and a half.  Two or three times, Freddie “shoved” an officer and tried to wrestle away his riot shield.   According to prosecutors, “At one point, when it appeared the police were going to be able to finally close one set of doors between them and rioters, creating an advantageous barrier, Mr. Klein 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.”  Freddie disagrees with this description.  It should be noted that footage shows the Capitol police began throwing tear gas and pepper spray into the peaceful crowd and began the melee that followed.

On March the 4^th of that year, Freddie was arrested without incident and made his first appearance before a federal judge the following day.  He was indicted and charged a couple of weeks later with; Civil Disorder; Obstruction of an Official Proceeding which is a financial crime stature wrongly applied and now being heard at the Supreme Court, and Aiding and Abetting; Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officers Using a Dangerous Weapon; Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds; Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds; Engaging in Physical Violence in a Restricted Building or Grounds; Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building; Act of Physical Violence in the Capitol Grounds or Buildings.  The DOJ “stacks” charges and adds the financial crime because it’s a felony, enabling them to upgrade other misdemeanors and maximize sentences.

It was a virtual ‘cut-n-paste’ set of charges that every J6er received. But with his military history, serving in government and being a Trump fan, Federal Prosecutors lasered in on him.  Freddie was fortunate enough to have the resources to provide his own lawyer, Stanley Woodward who’d represented several Trump aides in federal investigations in the past.  Still, the odds were stacked against him.

Prosecutors said that “Klein was likely motivated by a personal benefit — namely, continued employment as a political appointee — when he attacked the U.S. Capitol,” and pointed to this text message he sent before heading to the January 6^th rallies: “Hell yea I’m going. I’m a Trump appointee.”

To counter that, in a defense sentencing memo to the court, Mr. Woodward wrote this; “No one person is responsible for the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 but that the government had portrayed Mr. Klein as playing a disproportionate role in the events that day: because he is a retired Marine; because he was a presidential appointee of Donald J. Trump in the State Department; because he had been entrusted with a security clearance.” Woodward said the evidence the prosecution presented simply, “does not support the outsized role he has been accused of playing.”

At trial, Freddie had been held in the D.C. Metro Police headquarters also known as, “The DC Gulag” and was appalled at the conditions.  He asked the judge to be moved. “I’m wondering if there’s a place I could stay in detention where I don’t have cockroaches crawling over me while I’m trying to sleep,” Freddie told U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui. “I haven’t really slept all that much, your Honor. It would be nice if between now and Tuesday I could sleep in a place where there are not cockroaches all over.”

The judge said he would address the complaint and moved him to another location. But this treatment was common for J6ers. Stories of late-night beatings, having food and restroom privileges denied and other unlawful treatments have emerged from many of the J6 political prisoners. 

Freddie was found guilty of all 12 charges which is common since the bulk of the jurors and judges are recycled, hearing every case, with no diversity of thought.  He was sentenced to 5 years and 10 months in prison as well as a fine of $3,000 and another $2,000 in restitution for damages to the Capitol Grounds.   His wife Linda and their son, David, were devastated and according to reports, have not visited or spoken to him since his conviction. 

Freddie, a devout Catholic, needs prayers for himself and his family, and of course funds to mount an appeal.  To help with expenses; https://www.givesendgo.com/G22Z1