Ryan Nichols

Public January 6 profile · ready to claim

Federico Guillermo Klein

Pardoned January 6 defendant · U.S. Marine veteran and former State Department appointee

Federico Guillermo Klein profile photograph from NPR's January 6 archiveDocumented editorial-use image
NPR's The Capitol Charges; database photo credit: Department of Justice (all named credit exceptions excluded) Published for archive identification and reporting; reuse rights are not represented as cleared.Image source →

FEDERICO GUILLERMO KLEIN Federico Guillermo Klein, also identified in the federal record as “Freddie Klein,” is a U.S. Marine veteran and former State Department appointee from Falls Church, Virginia. His January 6 prosecution was one of the major Lower West Terrace Tunnel cases. This profile preserves the procedural record, attributes government descriptions to their sources, and treats the case history as distinct from any judgment about Klein’s moral character. CASE OVERVIEW United States v. Klein, No. 1:21-cr-236, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Klein was arrested on March 4, 2021. A published April 2021 detention opinion later permitted his release under conditions after reviewing whether the government had established a continuing prospective danger that could not be addressed through release conditions. PUBLIC ACCESS TO VIDEO RECORDS A separate June 30, 2021 memorandum opinion addressed a press coalition’s request for video material associated with Klein’s April 9 detention hearing. Judge John D. Bates ruled that clips actually shown to the court were judicial records subject to the common-law presumption of public access and permitted their copying and publication. The court denied access through that application to videos only referenced in filings but never presented to the court. This ruling addressed access to records; it did not decide Klein’s guilt. What did the June 2021 video-access ruling decide? It allowed access to clips actually shown at the detention hearing while excluding videos never presented to the court from that particular application. TRIAL AND FINDINGS After a bench trial before U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden, the court found Klein guilty on July 20, 2023. The Justice Department reported eight felony findings: six counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and aiding and abetting, one obstruction count and aiding and abetting, and civil disorder. The court also found him guilty of two misdemeanor offenses. The archive attributes descriptions of Klein’s actions in the tunnel to the government’s evidence and court record. Those descriptions are not presented as independent conclusions about who he is as a person. SENTENCE On November 3, 2023, Judge McFadden sentenced Klein to 70 months in federal prison, 24 months of supervised release, and $5,000 in combined fines and restitution. The DOJ sentencing release described him as a former Marine and State Department appointee. PARDON On January 20, 2025, President Donald J. Trump granted a full, complete, and unconditional pardon to all covered January 6 defendants other than 14 people whose sentences were specifically commuted. Klein was not among the named commutation recipients, so his covered convictions fell within the pardon provision. The archive has not yet preserved a separate post-pardon order vacating Klein’s judgment, and a pardon does not by itself rewrite the historical court record. The profile therefore records both the judgment and the later pardon. QUICK FACTS What was the case number? 1:21-cr-236 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Was there a jury? No. The findings followed a bench trial before Judge Trevor N. McFadden. When was Klein sentenced? November 3, 2023. What sentence was imposed? 70 months of imprisonment, 24 months of supervised release, and $5,000 in fines and restitution. Was he pardoned? Yes. His covered January 6 convictions fell within the full-pardon provision of the January 20, 2025 proclamation. EDITORIAL CONTEXT This site examines Klein’s case within the broader argument that January 6 defendants experienced Biden-era DOJ weaponization and disproportionate prosecution. That editorial position is kept separate from the sourced procedural record, the trial court’s findings, and unresolved questions that require additional primary documents. RESEARCH STILL NEEDED The archive still needs the native indictment and superseding indictments, the complete bench-trial findings or transcript, the native judgment and sentencing transcript, any post-pardon docket entries, a file-level hash for each native court PDF, an authentic reusable profile photograph, and a verified post-release statement from Klein or his family.

The case file

On the record

Case number
1:21-cr-236
Court
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Judge
Trevor N. McFadden
Prosecutor
U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia; DOJ National Security Division Counterterrorism Section
Defense attorney
Stanley E. Woodward, Jr.; Kristin L. McGough
Disposition
Found guilty after a bench trial on July 20, 2023; sentenced November 3, 2023; covered by the full-pardon provision of the January 20, 2025 clemency proclamation. No separate post-pardon vacatur has been verified in this archive.
Arrested
March 4, 2021
Sentenced
November 3, 2023

Charges

  • Assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and aiding and abetting — six felony counts
  • Obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting — felony count
  • Civil disorder — felony count
  • Disorderly conduct in a Capitol building — misdemeanor
  • Act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or building — misdemeanor

Sentence

70 months imprisonment; 24 months supervised release; $5,000 combined fines and restitution. Full, complete, and unconditional pardon for covered January 6 convictions on January 20, 2025.

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Connection to United States v. Nichols

Federico Guillermo Klein appears in the record of United States v. Nichols through 5 shared documents on file below. The full case — timeline, people, documents — is public and free.

Walk the whole case →

Evidence on file

5 documents on file

Court2 documents

Court orders, rulings, transcripts, and docket entries.

In re Application for Access to Certain Sealed Video Exhibits — Federico Klein Record

ruling · Jun 30, 2021

In re Application for Access to Certain Sealed Video Exhibits — Federico Klein Record

Eleven-page memorandum opinion by Judge John D. Bates addressing press access to video clips associated with Federico Klein’s April 9, 2021 detention hearing. The court granted access to clips actually shown to the court and denied access through this application to videos only referenced in filings. This was an access-to-judicial-records ruling, not a determination of guilt. Native PDF captured and verified at 153,140 bytes; SHA-256 43973fb241fa4b35d339aefb0a3f1375b6b0ae2ae1fa179c2ead3d684cdf7c6a.

Official recordserved from the court docket

ruling · Apr 12, 2021

United States v. Klein — Detention Review Opinion

Published April 12, 2021 memorandum opinion by Judge John D. Bates ordering Federico Klein’s release pending trial under strict conditions. The court held that the government had not met its clear-and-convincing burden to establish a prospective danger that release conditions could not address. The opinion did not decide guilt. Canonical-URL SHA-256: 03710499556d1d09821f02ebe486e8a859498e4ae7dbf3b45664881653f890e3. Full native PDF capture remains pending.

Govt response3 documents

Responses from DC DOC, the U.S. Marshals, and federal agencies.