The Trump administration has hired a convicted January 6 rioter who joined the mob that stormed the US Capitol to a sensitive Pentagon post, alarming insiders.
Before the appointment, Elias Irizarry pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of entering and remaining inside a restricted building during the insurrection. Prosecutors accused Irizarry, a 19-year-old freshman at South Carolina’s Citadel military college at the time of the riot, of entering the Capitol through a broken window while holding a metal pole.
Now, Irizarry, who apologized for taking part in the January 6 riot, is serving in the Department of Defense’s Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict office, which handles sensitive missions including counterterrorism, hostage rescues, and embassy security.
“In the case of rescue/extraction missions, it can place our special operators in some of the most complex and dangerous environments we ask of them,” an anonymous individual familiar with the appointment told The Washington Post. “To put someone so junior and new to DOD, and with such a checkered background, into such a sensitive portfolio raises serious questions for leadership.”
The Defense Department defended the Trump administration’s decision to hire the official.
“Mr. Elias Irizarry is a qualified, patriotic young professional, and we are proud to have him as a political appointee at the Department of War,” A Pentagon spokesman wrote on X.
“Elias is a close friend of mine and a patriot,” DOJ official Ernie Sampera wrote in a separate post. “His character is beyond reproach and his loyalty to the United States is absolute.”
The Independent was not able to immediately contact Irizarry for comment.
Prior to his sentencing, Irizarry apologized for his involvement in the events of January 6.
“My participation in an event like January 6th has brought great shame upon myself, my family, and, unfortunately, my country,” he told the judge handling his case.
However, in a subsequent, ultimately unsuccessful campaign for the South Carolina state legislature, Irizarry framed his involvement as part of his conservative bona fides.
“He was one of several thousand prosecuted by the Department of Justice for nonviolent activities on January 6th,” an archived version of his campaign website reads.
“At every pivotal moment of the America First movement, Elias has been there,” the site continues.
President Trump pardoned Irizarry alongside more than 1,500 others accused or convicted of taking part in the insurrection.
The second Trump administration previously hired another accused rioter, who prosecutors said urged rioters to kill law enforcement, sending him to the Justice Department.
Democrats in Congress have pushed to investigate whether the Department of Homeland Security is hiring former January 6-ers.
The president’s recent attempt to create a roughly $1.8 billion fund to pay victims of DOJ “weaponization” raised alarms on Capitol Hill among Trump critics that the funds could go to compensating former insurrectionists.
