Jonathan Rinderknecht, the suspected arsonist arrested this week in connection to the destructive Pacific Palisades fire earlier this year, allegedly ranted about President Trump and climate change on social media.
An exclusive report from the New York Post probed Rinderknecht’s social media posts, showing he allegedly ranted on Facebook about a coming eco-apocalypse while mocking President Trump and encouraging people to become vegans.
One article he shared – “Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration,” from ProPublica – even included a thumbnail showing wildfires raging across a California hillside neighborhood.
That 2020 story opened by discussing blazing West Coast temperatures.
He also allegedly posted photos on his Facebook of Trump supporters crying after the president lost the 2020 election while linking to a Harris-Biden fundraiser page.
“Senator Kamala Harris Says Meat is Destroying the Planet,” read one article.
“Antarctica’s Ice Shelves Have Lost Millions of Metric Tons of Ice,” read a Scientific American article that he shared.
“A Shift to Plant-Based Diets Would Create 19 Million Jobs in Latin American and the Caribbean,” another from Forbes read.
Other photos reportedly on his page showed him with his face painted like a skull, covered in blood.
Investigators alleged in an affidavit that Rinderknecht disclosed to a family member that he had burned a bible months before he allegedly ignited the deadly fire. He also allegedly disclosed this information with ChatGPT.
“I literally burnt the Bible that I had. It felt amazing. I felt so liberated,” he allegedly said in the digital exchange, per the San Francisco Chronicle.
Investigators identified Rinderknecht as a suspect quickly and had interviewed him by Jan. 24, a week before the fire was fully contained. Surveillance footage showed Rinderknecht and his vehicle in the area at the time the fire began. Additional phone records revealed he — and no one else — was present at the site, officials said,” noted the outlet.
Rinderknecht also allegedly donated two dollars to former President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign.
As Breitbart News reported, the 29-year-old suspect was arrested in Florida. Reuters also reported that he allegedly “recorded videos on his phone of firefighters attempting to extinguish the blaze:”
Justice department officials announced at a news conference that Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, a.k.a. “Jonathan Rinder,” and “Jon Rinder,” of Melbourne, Florida, 29, had been detained.
The BBC reports authorities said evidence collected from the suspect’s digital devices showed an image he generated on ChatGPT depicting a burning city.
“While we cannot undo the damage and destruction that was done, we hope his arrest and the charges against him bring some measure of justice to the victims of this horrific tragedy,” Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said during a press conference in Los Angeles.
“The arrest, we hope, will offer a measure of justice to all those impacted,” he added.
The Eaton Fire, ignited the same day in the area of northern Pasadena and Altadena, killed another 19 people and destroyed about 9,400 structures. No arrest has been made in connection to the fire and the cause remains unknown, though locals have alleged it sparked from a SoCal Edison transmission tower.
Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critic rating and can be viewed for FREE on YouTube, Tubi, or Fawesome TV. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free rental can also be streamed on Google Play, Vimeo on Demand, or YouTube Movies. Follow him on X @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.
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