But, hey: he’s your guy, right? Unwavering support, and all that.

In 2016, American law enforcement committed itself to supporting a presidential candidate who stoked hatred, anger, bigotry, racism, and xenophobia. Cop unions and their Sheriffs and Chiefs all gave their “unwavering support” to him for his entire presidency, as well as his 2020 candidacy.

Cops bought into his Big Lies, lock, stock, and barrel.

And then their seditionist president launched an insurrection to prevent the peaceful transfer of power to a new president.

He and his militias planned and conducted a violent attack on the US Capitol, on our elected leaders, and on the cops who protect them. All while waving those racist symbols and “Thin Blue Line” flags.

Result: $30M-and-counting in damage. Over 140 cops injured – many gravely. Three cops dead.

And among the insurrectionists arrested so far: On-duty cops. Off-duty cops. Former cops. A former FBI agent.

And at least one Trump political appointee.

The collective judgement of American cops is as poor as your reputation for integrity and honesty.

Cops are such tools.

From The Washington Post.

State Department aide appointed by Trump stormed the Capitol, beat police with a riot shield, FBI says

By Katie Shepherd and John Hudson March 5, 2021 at 8:48 a.m. PST

The FBI said Thursday that it arrested a political appointee of President Donald Trump on charges that he stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and assaulted an officer with a weapon, marking the first arrest of a Trump administration official in connection with the insurrection.

Federico Guillermo Klein, a former State Department official, is expected to appear in court on Friday.

The court papers obtained by The Washington Post detail Klein’s alleged conduct throughout the siege of the Capitol, tracing his apparent movements and actions from using a police shield to try to pry a door open, to calling for reinforcements from the crowd, to losing his red “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, looking for it amid the chaos, and then grabbing another red hat on the ground that turned out to be the wrong one.AD

Klein’s arrest is the most direct link yet between the Trump administration and the rioters, despite attempts by some conservatives to dissociate the insurrection from the former president. Many of the 300-plus people who have been charged in connection with the insurrection have described themselves as Trump supporters, while some have ties to extremist groups like the Proud Boys, which Canada has designated a terrorist group, and the Oath Keepers.

Klein, who is also a former Trump campaign employee, did not respond to a request for comment. A State Department spokesman said Klein served as a political appointee in the department from 2017 until his resignation in January. “This is being investigated by FBI and they are the appropriate agency to answer questions specific to the charges,” the spokesman said.

Klein had a top-secret security clearance that was renewed in 2019, the FBI said. A LinkedIn profile the FBI identified as Klein’s also lists a top-secret security clearance and shows that Klein has been politically active in the Republican Party since at least 2008, when he began volunteering for political campaigns. Before joining the State Department in 2017, Klein worked for the Trump campaign, which paid him a $15,000 salary.

Klein was still employed at the State Department as a staff assistant on Jan. 6 when he joined a mob in a tunnel leading into the U.S. Capitol, the FBI said. Then he allegedly “physically and verbally engaged with the officers holding the line” at the building’s entrance, according to the complaint. After ignoring officers’ orders to move back, he assaulted officers with a riot shield that had been stolen from police, the complaint said, and then used the shield to wedge open a door into the Capitol.

At one point, Klein was caught on video shouting for more insurrectionists to come to the front lines, where officers were struggling to hold back the mob.

“We need fresh people, need fresh people,” he said, according to the complaint.

A photo filed by the FBI allegedly shows Federico G. Klein holding a police shield at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. (FBI)

According to a financial disclosure form filed by Klein, he was appointed as a staff assistant in the State Department on Jan. 22, 2017, days after Trump was sworn in as president. He worked as a special assistant in the Office of Brazilian and Southern Cone Affairs, where he was paid $66,510, according to a ProPublica database of Trump appointees and the criminal complaint.

After the insurrection, Klein continued working in the State Department until Jan. 19, when he resigned the day before President Biden’s inauguration, per the complaint.

Was the attack on the U.S. Capitol an attempted coup? Many have argued that President Donald Trump’s efforts amounted to an attempted coup on Jan. 6. Was it? And why does that matter? (Monica Rodman, Sarah Hashemi/The Washington Post)

The Trump appointee faces several felony charges for his alleged role in the riot, including knowingly engaging in any act of physical violence against any person or property in any restricted building or grounds.

Klein’s mother, Cecilia Klein, told Politico that her son had admitted to being in D.C. on Jan. 6 but said he did not specify whether he had entered the Capitol building.

“Fred’s politics burn a little hot,” she told Politico, which first reported the arrest, “but I’ve never known him to violate the law.”

Matt Zapotosky and Devlin Barrett contributed to this story.