Unsurprisingly, but still astounding, a Trump administration official participated in the insurrection and has now been arrested according to a report in Politico.

We know that many in the administration were “there” at the Capitol in spirit, if not in body. Some might have even arranged for the insurrection to succeed as it did (as seen from their view). But in terms of outright participation, this arrest is a first:

The FBI on Thursday arrested Federico Klein, a former State Department aide, on charges related to the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, marking the first known instance of an appointee of President Donald Trump facing criminal prosecution in connection with the attempt to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory.

The State Department is the department most involved in foreign affairs, including promoting democracy around the world and penalizing dictatorships and brutal regimes. Perhaps that is why one of the Trump administration’s first moves was to dismantle the State department in shocking and brazen ways. Obviously, to the extent Trump replaced people, he did so with proven true believers. Evidently, Klein is a criminal true-believer.

As was typical of the Trump administration, Klein had no apparent expertise in the field for which he was hired:

Klein worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign and was then hired at the State Department. As of last summer, he was listed in a federal directory as serving as a special assistant in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs and was designated as a “Schedule C” political appointee.

Klein worked for a time 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, according to a former colleague who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

It is probably a coincidence but Brazil is one of those countries with a very Trumpy leader itself. We wonder whether Klein had any experience with South America or Brazil. It probably didn’t matter. He had MAGA experience and wasn’t about to give it up without a fight.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak