Federal investigators have released photographic evidence showing former Trump-appointed State Department aide Federico Klein using a riot shield against law enforcement officers as he and a mob of Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Klein, who was arrested last year for his role in the violent insurrection, has claimed that he’s being unfairly targeted by federal prosecutors. But prosecutors moved to release evidence that contradicts his claim.
In a new court filing, first reported by CBS News’ Scott MacFarlane, DOJ lawyers rebut Klein’s claims that he’s being “selectively prosecuted” by releasing a photo that shows him facing off against Capitol police officers and using a riot shield against them.
“Klein and others around him attacked, and attempted to enter, the Capitol as the Vice President, Members of Congress, and thousands of staffers convened inside. That conduct, and the ‘threat to civilians’ it engendered… dispels any inference of disparate treatment,” DOJ lawyers wrote in the filing.
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The DOJ lawyers also rebutted assertions that Klein and his fellow January 6 defendants shouldn’t be treated any worse than the left-wing anti-police brutality demonstrators who committed acts of vandalism at the Hatfield Federal Courthouse in Portland, Oregon.
The prosecutors wrote: “Although both Portland and Jan 6 rioters attacked federal buildings… the Portland defendants primarily attacked at night, meaning that they raged against a largely vacant courthouse.”
Former Trump political appointee Federico Klein argues he's being selectively prosecuted in Jan 6 case because of his prior service in Trump Admin
Justice Dept hits back hard against the claim, in new court filing arguing Klein used police riot shield *against* officers
(more) pic.twitter.com/QWwst5Mnnu
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) July 1, 2022
