Federal prosecutors say 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht deliberately set the blaze that became the deadly Palisades Fire, which killed 12 people in Los Angeles earlier this year.
The man that the U.S. Justice Department recently arrested and charged with ‘maliciously’ starting the blaze that eventually became the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles repeatedly posted climate change and anti-Trump content on social media and donated to Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign.
According to federal prosecutors, 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht started the fire on New Year’s Day near a hiking trail close to the Pacific Palisades before calling 911 and secretly filming firemen attempting to put it out. Although firefighters quickly suppressed the fire started by Rinderknecht, known then as the Lachman Fire, it continued to smolder and burn underground within the roots of dense vegetation. Days later, heavy winds caused the fire to resurface and spread above ground, starting the Palisades Fire.
The Justice Department cited evidence collected by law enforcement including witness statements, video surveillance, and cellphone data, as well as Rinderknecht’s conversations with ChatGTP.
“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 in a post on X.
Some prominent Democrats, including California Governor Gavin Newsom, were quick to pin the blame for the fire on climate change in the days and weeks during and after the crisis, despite the fact the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms suspected shortly after the fire started that it was caused by a human.
While his motivation for starting the fire has not yet been made public, public records uncovered by the Washington Reporter show Rinderknecht had previously made a political donation to Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign through the Democrat fundraising platform Act Blue.
A review of Rinderknecht’s social media profiles show he repeatedly posted alarmist content about climate change, including articles with headlines about how “plant-based diets” could create jobs, that Antarctica’s ice shelves have lost “millions of metric tons” of ice, or that meat is “destroying the planet.”
He also posted photos of Trump supporters crying after the 2020 election and shared a post from Joe Biden in 2020 alleging that Trump’s Covid response “destroyed” the economy he inherited.
According to authorities, multiple pieces of evidence suggest that Rinderknecht had developed an obsession with arson and fire. In July of 2024, he asked ChatGPT to generate an image of a fire engulfing a burning city. A few months later, Rinderknecht told ChatGPT “I literally burnt the Bible that I had. It felt amazing. I felt so liberated.”
Authorities also say that Rinderknecht was listening to a rap song, which has a music video depicting things being lit on fire, while filming the fire he’s accused of starting near the Palisades. He also listened to the song on repeat in the days leading up to his alleged actions.
Rinderknecht could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison if he is convicted.
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