Pentagon hires convicted January 6 rioter for national security job

Elias Irizarry, pictured during the January 6 riot, has been hired at the Pentagon. (Supplied: US District Court for the District of Columbia)

A man convicted of a misdemeanour trespassing charge in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot has been appointed to a role at the Pentagon.

Elias Irizarry has been assigned to the Pentagon's office of the undersecretary of defence for policy, which is tasked with providing national security advice and support on military strategy.

On January 6, 2021, rioters who were determined to overturn Donald Trump's 2020 election loss to Joe Biden stormed the Capitol in a violent clash with police.

The Trump administration has given a man convicted over his actions during the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot 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.

Mr Irizarry, whose appointment was first reported by The Washington Post, was convicted in 2023 of a misdemeanour trespassing charge after a crowd of US President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol.

He showed contrition when he was sentenced to two weeks behind bars in 2023, according to court documents.

The president's first act upon his return to the Oval Office is to sign an order pardoning almost 1,500 people involved in the insurrection.

Internal Pentagon records described to The Associated Press show that Mr Irizarry has been assigned to the office of the undersecretary of defence for policy, which is tasked with providing national security advice and support on military strategy and planning to the defence secretary.

It was not clear from Mr Valdez's statement how long Mr Irizarry had been in the post, and the Pentagon declined to provide more information.

Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on social media: "This administration thinks a convicted Jan. 6 rioter should be doing that kind of work?????"

Mr Irizarry was a 19-year-old student at the Citadel military college in South Carolina and a Civil Air Patrol cadet when he joined the attack on the Capitol, court documents showed.

He climbed through a broken window, entered a conference room, carried a metal pole through the Capitol and took photos before leaving the building, the records say.

"Because of his training, Mr Irizarry was undoubtedly aware of the safety threat posed by a mass of angry rioters to the Congress