A man the FBI identified as Reed Christensen pushes a police officer outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Body camera still included in a federal affidavit)
Five Oregon men face charges for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as public hearings by the congressional committee investigating the attack continue.
Four of the Oregon residents facing charges were inside the Capitol building on Jan. 6.
One’s a self-identified member of the Proud Boys, a right-wing militia group. One participated in a December 2020 siege on the Oregon Capitol in Salem.
And one ran for governor. Although Reed Christensen ended his campaign for health reasons, more than 3,000 Oregon Republicans voted for him in May.
Here’s a look at the five Oregon defendants:
Reed Christensen
Christensen, 64, pleaded not guilty to a U.S. District Court judge in Washington D.C. to eight federal crimes, including assaulting, resisting or impeding two Capitol police officers and a D.C. Metropolitan police office. He’s next scheduled to appear via video before the court on June 30, and his trial has not yet been scheduled.
According to his arrest warrant, Christensen tried to remove bike racks that the D.C. police had set up as a barrier to prevent a violent crowd from moving closer to the closed Capitol. The first time he tried, an officer sprayed him in the face with pepper spray, the report said.
After rinsing his face, he joined another group of rioters in bursting through the barriers. Christensen then hit or pushed three police officers, according to the warrant. The FBI identified him from surveillance cameras and police body-cam footage, and he was arrested in Portland on April 25, 2021.
During his brief political campaign, Christensen acknowledged being part of the Jan. 6 protest at the Capitol and described his behavior as “a little rowdy” to Republican voters.
The Hillsboro man racked up 10 traffic and parking tickets in Multnomah County between 1995 and 2001 but otherwise has had no interactions with Oregon courts, according to filings.
Jeffrey Hubbard
Hubbard, 47, of Lincoln City, was captured on video inside the Capitol. He pleaded not guilty to four federal crimes related to his presence in the building and will next appear by video in a Washington, D.C., U.S. District Court on June 28.
Rioters at the Capitol filmed themselves and others, and an FBI agent attested to seeing Hubbard, who has a “distinct bald head” on one such video, according to Hubbard’s arrest warrant. Hubbard was first seen in the back of a crowd of rioters in the hallway that connects Statuary Hall to the House chamber, and he appeared to be chanting “We want Trump” and “Stop the steal” along with other rioters, the report said.
Other surveillance footage showed the same man climbing through a broken window near the Senate and then taking selfies with his camera inside the Capitol rotunda.
A detective in Lincoln City told the FBI agent that he was investigating had a separate investigation involving Hubbard on another allegation. When the detective went to Hubbard’s house on Jan. 7, 2021, Hubbard’s mother opened the door and told him her son was at the Trump rally, according to the report.
Klein brothers
Two eastern Oregon brothers, one of whom is a self-identified member of the Proud Boys militia group, are trying to negotiate a plea deal for their presence in the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to court documents.
Jonathanpeter Klein, 22, and his brother Matthew, 25, traveled to D.C. on Jan. 5, and Jonathanpeter told his boss he needed vacation so he could attend the rally, according to their indictment. There, they joined a crowd that forced its way into the Capitol, and Jonathanpeter, who is a member of the Proud Boys, celebrated with other members of the group, the indictment said.
The brothers pleaded not guilty last spring to six charges, including conspiracy, obstructing an official proceeding and destroying government property. They have not gone to trial, and an April joint update from their attorneys and prosecutors said they were trying to resolve the matter without a trial. Their next update is due to a federal judge on June 28.
Separately, Matthew Klein was charged in Multnomah County Circuit Court in September 2020 for possessing a loaded firearm in a public place, which is illegal under a Portland ordinance. He was acquitted at a trial in April.
Richard Harris
A fifth Oregon man, Richard Harris, is scheduled to go to trial this fall after his arrest in Florida. Court documents say Harris was shown in two videos published by the New Yorker and ProPublica and in a photograph standing on a statue of former President Gerald Ford.
The videos included Harris yelling profanity-laced threats at a police officer and about Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then-Vice President Mike Pence, according to court documents.
He was also part of the group that attempted to break into the Oregon Capitol on Dec. 20, 2020, according to charging documents. He pleaded guilty in March to a harassment charge for twice shoving a Salem Statesman Journal photojournalist at the Oregon protest.
Harris lists Happy Valley as his home, but cell phone data shows he traveled through at least nine states before his arrest, and his father said he was living in his car, according to court documents.
His trial is scheduled for Sept. 26, though it could be postponed.
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