Ex-Proud Boy admits to Jan. 6 charges
Capitol riot panel requests interview with Ohio lawmaker Jordan, a Trump ally
A New York man who was a member of the Proud Boys pleaded guilty Wednesday to a felony count of obstructing Congress and conspiring to obstruct law enforcement during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.
Matthew Greene, 34, admitted coordinating with other members of the extremist group at the front of the mob, although there is no evidence that he actually entered the Capitol.
He is cooperating with prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Kenerson said in federal court in the district. The government estimates nonbinding sentencing guidelines of 41 to 51 months. Greene has also agreed to pay a $2,000 fine.
Also Wednesday, the House panel investigating the riot requested an interview with one of former President Donald Trump’s closest allies in Congress, as the committee closes in on members of its own chamber.
Greene is the first self-admitted member of the Proud Boys to plead guilty and agree to cooperate with law enforcement in the cases stemming from the riot. He is set to be sentenced March 10.
Prosecutors say Greene, along with fellow New York Proud Boys William Pepe and Dominic Pezzola, “was one of the first people” to go past toppled barricades and up the steps of the Capitol on Jan. 6. Pepe pulled down a metal fence blocking the grounds, prosecutors allege, with Greene alongside him. Prosecutors say Pezzola stole a riot shield from a Capitol police officer while Greene was close behind.
Greene was among those who pushed past Capitol Police through the scaffolding set up for President Joe Biden’s inauguration, prosecutors say.
When police started using pepper spray to control the crowd, Greene retreated. According to an indictment, Pezzola continued up the steps and used the stolen riot shield to smash a window into the building before entering.
Pepe and Pezzola have pleaded innocent, saying through lawyers that they did not plan with anyone for what happened on Jan. 6. Pezzola has said through an attorney that his association with the Proud Boys was “minimal and short lived,” and Pepe has said he was not in the same chapter as Pezzola and Greene.
After the riot, Greene bragged that “we took the capital,” and then ordered more than 2,000 rounds of assault-rifle ammunition and a gas mask, according to court records. In encrypted conversations with other Proud Boys, he said they had to “take back our country,” and “stand together now or end up in the gulag separately,” according to court records. He downplayed his association with the group to the FBI, prosecutors said, while telling members to be on guard for law enforcement.
Greene attended about three Proud Boys events between November 2020 and January 2021 and held “the lowest status in the organization,” according to a filing by defense attorney Michael Kasmarek. Greene has since “concluded that his personal beliefs and ethics do not align with those of the Proud Boys” and “is anxious to publicly disavow his brief membership in this group,” Kasmarek added.
Greene served in Afghanistan with the National Guard, according to court records, and now works in graphic design. He reportedly has no prior criminal history.
INVITATION TO JORDAN
In other developments Wednesday, the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot asked to speak with Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, one of former President Donald Trump’s closest allies in Congress.
In a letter to Jordan, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, Democratic chairman of the panel, said the panel wants the lawmaker to provide information for its investigation surrounding his communications with Trump on Jan. 6 and Trump’s efforts to challenge the result of the 2020 election.
“We understand that you had at least one and possibly multiple communications with President Trump on January 6th,” the letter reads. “We would like to discuss each such communication with you in detail.”
Jordan is a staunch supporter of the former president’s claims of voter fraud. The lawmaker brought those contentions up during an October hearing on a motion to hold former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon in contempt for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena.
In that hearing, Jordan admitted once again that he spoke with Trump on the day of the attack.
“Of course, I talked to the president,” Jordan told members of the Rules Committee, in response to questioning from the panel’s chairman, Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. “I talked to him that day. I’ve been clear about that. I don’t recall the number of times, but it’s not about me. I know you want to make it about that.”
A request for comment from Jordan’s office was not immediately returned.
The panel is also seeking information regarding Jordan’s meeting with Trump and members of his administration in November and December 2020, and in early January 2021, “about strategies for overturning the results of the 2020 election.”
The letter goes on to say the committee is also interested in any discussions Jordan may have had during that time regarding the possibility of presidential pardons for people involved in any aspect of the Capitol attack or the planning for the two rallies that took place that day.
At the time of the Capitol breach, Trump was pushing lobbying Vice President Mike Pence and Republican members of Congress to try to overturn the presidential election count at the Jan. 6 congressional certification. Election officials across the country, along with the courts, had repeatedly dismissed Trump’s claims.