Proud Boys member, brother held without bond in Capitol riot
A member of the Proud Boys and one of his brothers are being held without bond on charges that they were part of the Jan. 6 mob of Donald Trump supporters that stormed the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department announced Monday.
The men, Jonathanpeter Klein and his brother Matthew Leland Klein, were charged last month with conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder and other counts.
Jonathanpeter, 21, a self-identified member of the Proud Boys, told his boss on Dec. 27 that he wanted to take off from Jan. 4 to Jan. 8 so he and his brother could attend the "stop the steal rally in D.C.," according to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
He and Matthew, 24, flew from Oregon to Philadelphia on Jan. 4 and traveled to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5, the indictment said.
At the Capitol, Matthew helped members of the mob use a police barricade to climb a wall and gain access to an external stairwell leading to the Upper West Terrace of the building, the Justice Department alleged in a statement.
Both brothers entered the building just after 2 p.m. but then exited and proceeded to the Capitol's north side, where they "worked together to forcibly open a secured door ... with federal officers visible on the other side, causing damage to the building in excess of $1,000," the statement alleged.
When the officers tried to block the "violent entry," Matthew put on protective goggles and used a flagpole to thwart their efforts, the indictment claims.
The brothers were ordered held without bond pending trial after their arraignment Thursday, according to online records. Their next court appearance is scheduled for May 7.
The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia and the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department's National Security Division.
Proud Boys members describe themselves as a politically incorrect men's club for "Western chauvinists." Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes, who founded the Proud Boys in 2016, sued the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit hate crimes monitoring group, for labeling it as a hate group.
According to the law center, Proud Boys members often spread "outright bigotry" over the internet and have posted social media pictures of themselves with prominent Holocaust deniers, white nationalists and "known neo-Nazis."
CORRECTION (April 5, 2021, 5:50 p.m. ET): A photo caption on a previous version of this article misstated when rioters invaded the U.S. Capitol. It was Jan. 6, 2021, not Jan. 6, 2020.
