A recent appointee to a sensitive counterterrorism job in the Defense Department was filmed for more than five minutes during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot as he moved through restricted grounds and climbed through a broken window, holding a metal pole, to enter the U.S. Capitol, according to a Washington Post analysis.

The Post reported Tuesday that Elias Irizarry, who was 19 at the time of the attack, was hired to a post in the Pentagon’s Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict office. The team’s portfolio includes operations such as embassy security, personnel recovery and hostage rescue.

Irizarry pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor trespass charge in 2022 and was later pardoned by President Donald Trump along with many others who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

The Post confirmed Irizarry’s presence in five videos by matching them with screenshots or photographs in court filings or with events described in those filings. In two other videos, clothing worn by Irizarry and his companions, and their presence together, made the identification possible. The videos were obtained from social media, a related court case and other sources.

Irizarry did not respond to messages seeking comment.

In a statement, acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez said that Irizarry “is a qualified, patriotic young professional, and we are proud to have him as a political appointee.”

Irizarry drove from South Carolina to Northern Virginia with two travel companions — Elliot Bishai and Grayson Sherrill — on Jan. 5, 2021, to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally the next day, according to the prosecution’s sentencing memo. Irizarry was a freshman at The Citadel, a public military college in Charleston. Irizarry and his friends listened to Trump’s speech but headed to the Capitol before the speech ended, according to the memo.

Video shows that Irizarry and his companions soon joined the throngs on the west side of the Capitol. In the early afternoon, Irizarry, seen wearing a red bandanna and a MAGA hat, appeared to turn away from a crowd that had encircled a group of law enforcement officers. Moments later, Sherrill swung at a D.C. police officer with a metal pole, video shows. Sherrill later pleaded guilty to assaulting federal officers and was sentenced to seven months in custody.

Around 2:15 p.m., Irizarry and Bishai weaved their way through the mob and then ascended stairs to a terrace level.

According to the sentencing memo, video taken by Bishai shows Irizarry using his hand and a metal pole to direct rioters toward the stairs he and Bishai had taken. The memo adds that a voice probably belonging to Irizarry was heard on the video telling rioters to “GO UP THE SIDE! GO UP THE SIDE!” The Post could not immediately locate that video.

Irizarry crawled through the broken window on the Senate side of the Capitol at around 2:26 p.m., still carrying the pole, video shows. As he entered, rioters chanted: “Whose house? Our house!”

By this time, rioters were streaming into the building. According to the sentencing memo, Irizarry entered a private conference room — Senate Room S145 — where he was photographed sitting in a chair. He proceeded to the Crypt, a large vaulted chamber, and eventually up one floor to the Rotunda, where video shows he climbed onto a Ronald Reagan statue and posed for a photo.

Irizarry exited the Capitol building after more than 20 minutes inside, according to the sentencing memo and video time-stamps.

In 2023, he apologized at his sentencing. “I am ashamed because I will always be a part of this disgrace,” Irizarry said. “January 6th represented something truly horrible; it was the largest attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”

It was unclear Wednesday who within the Trump administration appointed him to the Pentagon post.

Tara Copp contributed to this report.