‘Masters of a lawless mob.’ Lawsuit details how accused Pendleton man helped extremists breach Capitol
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These Tri-Cities area men are on trial for their involvement in the Jan. 6 riots
A Franklin County WA man and two Pendleton OR brothers are awaiting trial for their involvement in the 2021 insurrection. The lastest on Taylor Taranto and the Klein brothers.
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A new lawsuit alleges that a Pendleton-area man was instrumental in helping extremist groups breach the U.S. Capitol building last January.
Recent court filings in the lawsuits against Jonathanpeter Klein, 22, and his brother Matthew Klein, 25, shed more light on what prosecutors say happened that day.
The Klein brothers, who hail from just south of the Tri-Cities, were arrested in March and face criminal trials for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack.
And just last month, the younger brother was named in a civil suit brought by the District of Columbia. The lawsuit obtained by the Tri-City Herald accuses Jonathanpeter Klein of actively coordinating with other Proud Boys to breach the Capitol.
Klein brothers
The brothers had been locked up in federal custody in Portland for two months before a judge agreed in May to release them pending their trials.
They are charged with conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder, destruction of government property, entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct.
But a judge would not release them to the custody of their parents in Baker City because of text messages from the parents advising Matthew after the attack to keep quiet about what they had done because “braggers get caught” and to destroy his cellphone data.
Jonathanpeter Klein
Jonathanpeter Klein, who was arrested about 80 miles south of the Tri-Cities near Heppner, Ore., was released to live with family friends in Umatilla County.
He is a self-identified member of the Proud Boys, which was classified by the FBI in 2018 as an extremist group with ties to white nationalism.
Prosecutors in the criminal case described him in documents as “a dangerous powder keg, who is prepared to forcibly oppose and engage in violence against those with whom he disagrees, including the government of the United States.”
The Kleins were pictured in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5 wearing Proud Boys gear and American flag neck gaiters covering half their faces.
That photograph was featured on an FBI website and used to identify people who participated in the Jan. 6 violence.
The civil suit names Jonanthanpeter Klein alongside dozens of individual defendants, as well as Proud Boys International LLC and the Oath Keepers.
District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine told NPR that the lawsuit alleges that the defendants were “vigilantes, insurrectionists and masters of a lawless mob that conspired against the District of Columbia, its law enforcement officers and residents by planning, promoting and participating in the violent attack on the United States.”
Conspiracy
“Our own citizens were hellbent on destroying the freedoms and ideals on which our country was founded and continues to aspire to achieve,” Racine told reporters on Dec. 14.
Racine’s office is alleging that the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and nearly one hundred others took part in a coordinated attempt to breach the Capitol and put a stop to the certification of the 2020 election results.
In all, an angry mob of 2,000 to 2,500 attacked the Capitol, according to news accounts and investigators.
“We’re going to defend the president, the duly elected president, and we call on him to do what needs to be done to save our country. Because if you don’t, guys, you’re going to be in a bloody, bloody civil war, and a bloody — you can call it an insurrection or you can call it a war or fight,” Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes told members in a Nov. 9, 2020 virtual meeting, according to court documents.
According to the filings, Rhodes further called on his followers to go to D.C. to let President Donald Trump know “that the people are behind him.”
Rhodes continued, “I do want some Oath Keepers to stay on the outside, and to stay fully armed and prepared to go in armed, if they have to. ... So our posture’s gonna be that we’re posted outside of DC, um, awaiting the President’s orders. ...We hope he will give us the orders. We want him to declare an insurrection, and to call us up as the militia.”
During the “Stop the Steal” rally on Dec. 12, 2020, court documents show Rhodes gave a speech in which he called upon President Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act to prevent President Biden from taking office.
The lawsuit claims that as a member of the Proud Boys, Jonathanpeter Klein worked with Rhodes and the Oath Keepers to breach the Capitol and attempt to prevent the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
Attack timeline
In the filings the Proud Boys were described as “a U.S.-based group that promotes and engages in political violence, including in service of its hate-motivated agenda.”
The Oath Keepers are described as a “militia movement group united by baseless conspiracy theories arising from the idea that the federal government has been co-opted by a nefarious group that is trying to strip United States citizens of their rights.”
Klein was one of about three dozen members of the groups named individually. The lawsuit also included 50 more individuals who have not yet been identified.
Klein was named based on evidence showing he participated in the attack, using a police barrier to help others scale the walls of the Capitol building.
“After pushing their way past another barricade, Proud Boys member Defendant Klein obtained and used the police barricade to help others climb the Capitol walls and gain access to an external stairwell,” said the documents.
“Proud Boys member Defendant (Christopher John) Worrell, equipped with a tactical vest and communications equipment, sprayed a noxious substance (seemingly pepper spray gel) toward a line of police officers guarding an entryway to the Capitol on the west side.”
The lawsuit describes in detail how members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers coordinated in real time and worked together during the attack on the capitol. The filings also explain how the groups attacked and forced their way past officers outside, broke into the building and attacked officers inside.
As the Proud Boys were breaching the building, prosecutors say Oath Keepers coordinated to attack from the other side.
In the documents, prosecutors say Oath Keepers leader Rhodes “messaged another Oath Keepers leader, informing him that members of the team had ‘taken ground at the capital [sic], instructing that ‘(W)e need to regroup any members who are not on mission.’”
Prosecutors say Rhodes then “’instructed his group to report to the ‘South Side of the Capitol,’ suggesting that they had strategically planned to simultaneously (or near-simultaneously) enter the Capitol from a different entrance than the Proud Boys in order to weaken the building’s defense by forcing law enforcement to defend multiple doors.”
Prosecutors say that once inside, the defendants “continued their violent rampage, actively seeking out the official election certification proceedings and individuals with official functions in an effort to disrupt the election certification process with threats and violence.”
Injunction and damages
Prosecutors are asking the judge to issue an injunction against all defendants to prevent them from engaging in “conspiracy to interfere with civil rights” and prevent them from engaging in further violence or violations of civil rights.
They’re also asking the costs of damages to the District of Columbia to be determined at trial, as well as punitive damages and court and lawyers fees.
Matthew Klein
Court documents show that Jonathanpeter Klein’s older brother Matthew Klein was released into the custody of a third party in Baker County, Ore. last May.
Filings show he is working full time and has not had any major violations of the terms of his release. The court allowed him to travel to Pendleton for the Christmas holiday.
The criminal case is ongoing but Matthew Klein is not named in the civil suit brought by D.C.’s Attorney General.
Tri-Cities man sued
A Tri-Cities Republican Party official recently broke his silence after being accused of involvement in a Jan. 6 attack that led to the suicide of a U.S. Capitol police officer.
Taylor Taranto, 35, of Pasco, is being sued by the officer’s widow for wrongful death, but he wants the judge to dismiss the lawsuit and award him millions of dollars in damages.
Taranto, who is representing himself, filed a motion in December to dismiss the case and a counterclaim asking for $3.5 million and a public apology.
He has not been criminally charged in the attack, but declined to say whether or not he was being misidentified in a video of the incident.
This story was originally published January 9, 2022 at 1:11 PM with the headline "‘Masters of a lawless mob.’ Lawsuit details how accused Pendleton man helped extremists breach Capitol."
