WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has given a man convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol a job in the Pentagon’s policy office, according to officials and internal records.“Mr. Elias Irizarry is a qualified, patriotic young professional, and we are proud to have him as a political appointee,” acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez said in a social media post this week.Irizarry, whose appointment was first reported by The Washington Post, was convicted in 2023 of a misdemeanor trespassing charge after a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol. He showed contrition when he was sentenced to two weeks behind bars in 2023, court documents show.Internal Pentagon records described to The Associated Press show that Irizarry has been assigned to the office of the undersecretary of defense for policy, which is tasked with providing national security advice and support on military strategy and planning to the defense secretary.
It was not clear from Valdez’s statement how long Irizarry had been in the post, and the Pentagon declined to provide more information.
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