OPINION: This article contains commentary which reflects the author's opinion
So much for all of that talk about “unity” from Joe Biden.
A Trump State Department appointee was arrested Thursday for involvement in the Capitol mayhem on January 6 after he was identified from photos and police bodycam footage.
Federico Klein was charged with assaulting a police officer, interfering with police during civil disorder, and obstruction of Congress and law enforcement in connection with the incident.
Two tipsters identified Klein from FBI photos and called the FBI to report that he was the one in the photos.
Klein worked at the Office of Brazilian and Southern Cone Affairs at the State Department at the time of the incident.
He resigned on January 21.
Klein appeared in court and complained that there were cockroaches in the cell where he had been kept overnight.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui said the conditions would be addressed and that Klein would likely be moved later on Friday.
Klein did not enter any plea on the charges, which the judge said could get him up to 20 years in prison.
He said he had not been able to hire a lawyer from his cell.
“It’s really impossible to do anything from my cell at this point,” he said.
Prosecutors asked that Klein be held in custody pending trial, but Faruqui apparently had other ideas.
After all, Klein is not being charged with murder and does not have a pattern of dangerous behavior.
“I don’t want you to just be on hold, in purgatory, while you sort out your counsel,” the judge said.
So far, the Biden administration has arrested just shy of 300 individuals suspected of being part of the Capitol mayhem on January 6th.
A top FBI counterterrorism official testified last week that no firearms were recovered during arrests of people who breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
“How many firearms were confiscated in the Capitol or on Capitol grounds during that day?” Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson asked Jill Sanborn, the FBI official, during a Senate Homeland Security hearing.
“To my knowledge, we have not recovered any on that day from any other arrests at the scene at this point,” replied Sanborn, who serves as FBI assistant director for counterterrorism.
“I don’t want to speak on behalf of Metro and Capitol police, but, to my knowledge, none,” she added.
“I believe that the only shots that were fired were the ones that resulted in the death of the lady,” Sanborn testified, referring to Ashli Babbit, an Air Force veteran from California.