Jan. 6 defendant takes Pentagon political appointment

A former Jan. 6 rioter who pleaded guilty after entering the U.S. Capitol through a broken window while carrying a metal pole now works as a political appointee at the Pentagon, an appointment defense officials defended as concerns emerged over the sensitivity of his role.

Elias Irizarry was 19 and a student at The Citadel military college in South Carolina when a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, seeking to block certification of the 2020 presidential election, which Joe Biden won and Trump falsely claimed was stolen. Irizarry later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and was sentenced to 14 days in jail.

Acting Pentagon Press Secretary Joel Valdez confirmed Irizarry’s appointment in a statement to NBC News but did not specify his job. “Mr Elias Irizarry is a qualified, patriotic young professional, and we are proud to have him as a political appointee,” Valdez said.

The Washington Post first reported the appointment. The Guardian, citing the Post, reported that Irizarry has been placed in the Defense Department’s special operations and low intensity conflict office, attached to a counterterrorism and irregular warfare team of about 40 people. The team’s responsibilities include embassy security, personnel recovery and hostage rescue, according to the report.

One person who spoke anonymously to the Post said the work can involve rescue and extraction missions that “place our special operators in some of the most complex and dangerous environments we ask of them.” The person added: “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.”

Federal prosecutors described Irizarry’s actions in detail in court filings. They said he entered the Capitol through a broken window holding a metal pole, moved into a conference room and then entered the rotunda. “Irizarry joined the mob for many hours,” prosecutors wrote. “After he armed himself with a metal pole, Irizarry watched as rioters violently assaulted officers who were trying to make their way through the crowd.” They said he later climbed scaffolding to reach the upper West terrace and waved other rioters up the stairs toward the building.

Irizarry apologized before sentencing in a five-page letter to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, writing that he had “brought great shame upon myself, my family, and, unfortunately, my country.” He called Jan. 6 “without a doubt one of the most embarrassing days in modern American history” and said, “I have come to appreciate, through all this, how fortunate we are to have a stable government.”

At his 2023 sentencing, according to The Guardian, Irizarry said: “I am ashamed because I will always be a part of this disgrace. January 6th represented something truly horrible; it was the largest attack on our democracy since the civil war.” Chutkan said his record before the riot had been “quite commendable” and offered to write a letter to help him reapply to The Citadel, from which he had been discharged after the Capitol attack. He was later readmitted and graduated in 2024.

Valdez also defended Irizarry in an email quoted by The Guardian, saying the Pentagon was proud to have him as a political appointee “at the Department of War” and criticizing the Washington Post reporters who covered the appointment.

Trump pardoned Irizarry and hundreds of other Jan. 6 defendants on his first day back in office in 2025. Irizarry also ran unsuccessfully for the South Carolina legislature, losing in a 2024 Republican primary, The Guardian reported.