Convicted Jan. 6 rioter hired for sensitive counterterrorism job in Trump’s Pentagon
Two weeks after Election Day 2024, Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama assured the public that Donald Trump wouldn’t choose “a criminal” to serve in any key positions. Soon after, the president (himself a convicted felon) started adding politically aligned ex-cons to his administrative team.
But of particular interest are the Jan. 6 rioters who’ve been hired by the Republican administration, despite — or quite possibly, because of — the role they played in the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Last summer, for example, Trump’s Justice Department hired Jared Wise, a former FBI agent who not only participated in the Jan. 6 riot, he was also filmed urging his fellow insurrectionists to “kill” police officers. (Though Wise was criminally charged, federal prosecutors didn’t have time to proceed with the case before Trump started handing out pardons to rioters, including violent felons who clashed with police officers.)
Wise parted ways with the administration a couple of months ago, but as it turns out, he wasn’t the only Jan. 6 rioter to get a job on Team Trump. The Washington Post reported:
A convicted Jan. 6 rioter who later said that he regretted his participation in the U.S. Capitol attack has been hired by the Trump administration to work inside a Pentagon office that manages highly classified military operations, according to four people familiar with the matter.
The appointment of Elias Irizarry, who was 19 at the time of the riot in 2021, to a post in the Defense Department’s Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict office has raised alarm internally among staff who question how anyone convicted in the assault on American democracy could be trusted for such a sensitive role in the U.S. government, these people said.
Though it’s unclear who, specifically, hired the rioter who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and was sentenced to 14 days in jail in 2023, the Pentagon made no effort to deny the accuracy of the reporting. In fact, a spokesperson for the department described Irizarry as “a qualified, patriotic young professional,” adding that the DOD is “proud to have him as a political appointee.”
The Pentagon’s pride notwithstanding, the Post’s report noted that the position Irizarry now holds requires a top-secret security clearance, and that he’s part of a team that handles some of “the most delicate” work the Pentagon performs.
The timing of these developments could’ve been better: When Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth once again intervened in a military branch’s promotion list, disproportionately targeting women and minority officers, a Pentagon spokesperson said personnel decisions are entirely “merit-based.”
One day later, we learned that the DOD’s “merit-based” approach to employment includes hiring a convicted Jan. 6 rioter for a sensitive job in the Pentagon’s counterterrorism section.
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Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
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