Pentagon hires convicted Jan. 6 rioter for sensitive counterterrorism job

[riversedge]

5. "...he entered through a broken window while wielding a metal pole, but that he never struck anyone.

...........After traveling to Washington with two other men, Irizarry joined the mob of Donald Trump supporters who breached police lines and broke into the building while members of Congress attempted to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. Prosecutors said that, along with the crowds, he entered through a broken window while wielding a metal pole, but that he never struck anyone.

Irizarry pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and was sentenced to 14 days in jail, court filings show.

In those legal filings, Irizarry was described as attending Trump’s rally at the Ellipse before ending up at the riot by happenstance and quickly disavowing his involvement.

Irizarry, wearing a maroon sweatshirt and holding a pole in his right hand in the foreground, in the Capitol rotunda on Jan. 6, 2021. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

But the judge in his case also described him as someone who at critical moments on Jan. 6 — such as when one of his traveling companions, Grayson Sherrill, struck a police officer with a pole — did nothing to stop the violence. Sherrill was sentenced to seven months in custody in 2023 after pleading guilty to assaulting federal officers. ..............


https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=1440&impolicy=high_res
Irizarry, wearing a maroon sweatshirt and holding a pole in his right hand in the foreground, in the Capitol rotunda on Jan. 6, 2021. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)