Posted by Alumni from The Atlantic
June 6, 2026
On January 6, 2021, 19-year-old Elias Irizarry was among the members of a violent mob that broke into the U.S. Capitol and attempted to overturn the recent presidential election. He was convicted of trespassing on government grounds, and videos from that day show him entering through a window with a metal pole in his hand. Now he may have access to sensitive national-security information as an employee of the Department of Defense. As part of his deal with then-President Biden's Justice Department, Irizarry pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, and was sentenced to 14 days in jail. But as with almost all of the other January 6ers, he was fully pardoned on Donald Trump's return to office last year. The Washington Post reported this week that Irizarry, now 25, works at the Pentagon's Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict office. He's been tasked with guarding the country against terrorist threats'but he himself... learn more