A Marine Corps veteran who served as a politically appointed State Department official in former US president Donald Trump’s administration has been sentenced to nearly six years in prison for attacking police officers during the riot at the US Capitol.

Federico Klein joined other Trump supporters in one of the most violent episodes of the January 6, 2021 siege — a mob’s fight with outnumbered police for control of a tunnel entrance on the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace.

Klein repeatedly assaulted officers, urged other rioters to join the fray and tried to stop police from shutting entrance doors, according to federal prosecutors.

Klein “waged a relentless siege on police officers” as he tried to enter the Capitol and stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory over Trump, prosecutors said in a court filing.

Klein, who didn’t testify at his trial, declined to address the court  on Friday before District Judge Trevor McFadden sentenced him to five years and 10 months in prison.

‘Shocking and egregious’

“Your actions on January 6th were shocking and egregious,” the judge told Klein.

McFadden also ordered Klein to pay a $US3000 ($A4600) fine and $US2000 ($A3000) in restitution. He will report to prison at a date to be determined.

Klein worked in the State Department’s office of Brazilian and Southern Cone Affairs from 2017 until he resigned from that position on January 19, 2021, a day before Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Prosecutors said Klein’s participation in the riot was likely motivated by a desire to keep his job as a presidential appointee.

“As an employee of the federal government, Klein was endowed with the trust of the American people and to uphold the law. He violated that trust on January 6 when he attacked the very country for which he was paid to work,” prosecutors wrote.

Defence lawyer Stanley Woodward had accused prosecutors of exaggerating Klein’s role in the riot due to his political connection to the Trump administration.

“Accordingly, Mr. Klein should be sentenced for his actual role in the events of the day, and not the more egregious conduct of others with which the government would have Mr. Klein be found guilty by association,” Woodward wrote.

Prosecutors had recommended a 10-year prison sentence for Klein, an Alexandria, Virginia, resident who was 42 years old at the time of the riot. Klein was arrested in March, 2021.

Nearly 1200 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. More than 800 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury or judge after a trial.

Approximately 700 of them have been sentenced, with about two-thirds receiving terms of imprisonment ranging from three days to 22 years.

-AAP