LETTER: Giving Jan. 6 rioter Pentagon job is a joke but it’s not funny

June 24, 2026

To Ozaukee Press:

The Trump administration has appointed a convicted and pardoned rioter to the Pentagon job “overseeing top-secret counter terrorism and special operation” situations.

Elias Irizarry is the new appointee. Irizarry was filmed moving through restricted areas and entering a broken window to get into the U. S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Acting Press Secretary Joel Valdez stated, “Mr. Elias Irizarry is a qualified, patriotic young professional, and we are proud to have him as a political appointee to the Department of War.”

This is a joke, right? I wish it was. A great patriot can hardly have baggage as a convicted felon breaking into the Capitol. It’s enough that President Donald Trump wanted money to pay the insurrectionists—which was nixed by members of Congress—but this appointment has an odor of rotten fish.

Bart Batholomew

West Bend

Category:

Feedback:

Click Here to Send a Letter to the Editor

Ozaukee Press

Wisconsin’s largest paid circulation community weekly newspaper. Serving Port Washington, Saukville, Grafton, Fredonia, Belgium, as well as Ozaukee County government. Locally owned and printed in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

125 E. Main St.
Port Washington, WI 53074
(262) 284-3494
 

CONNECT


User login