WASHINGTON — A defendant on January 6 who had two guns and 400 rounds of ammunition in his truck when he was arrested near the home of former President Barack Obama last week could be released before trial unless prosecutors file more serious charges. against him in the coming week, a federal examining magistrate said Thursday.
Taylor Taranto, who admitted that he was at the Capitol on January 6, is currently facing four misdemeanor counts in connection with the attack on the Capitol. US Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui said Thursday he was concerned about Taranto’s behavior but could only consider whether Taranto posed a flight risk to determine whether to keep him before trial because he only faces misdemeanors unrelated to his conduct. recent and the threats you posted online. .
“The charges here do not reflect the conduct,” Judge Faruqui said at a preliminary hearing on Wednesday.
Assistant US Attorney Allison Ethen had urged Faruqui on Wednesday to arrest Taranto, citing his «erratic» and «threatening» statements he has made in recent videos and live streams.
Ethen said Taranto poses a threat to certain current and former government officials, as well as the general public, citing an incident last month in which Taranto broadcast live entering an elementary school near Rep. Jamie Raskin’s home. , D-Md. ., where he projected a movie about January 6 on the wall. In the video, cited by prosecutors, Taranto said multiple times that he knew Raskin lived nearby, adding: «I didn’t tell anyone where he lives because I want him just for myself.»
Prosecutors said Thursday they intended to file additional charges against Taranto, but did not specify the charges. Pretrial services plan to interview members of Taranto’s family about whether they would be suitable custodians if he were released.
The next hearing is scheduled for July 12, when Faruqui is expected to issue his ruling on Taranto’s arrest.
Taranto was first identified by online detectives in August 2021 after facial recognition turned up images of him posing with a cardboard cutout of former President Donald Trump. Taranto has been living in a van parked outside the DC jail and last month he appeared at the sentencing of David Walls-Kaufman, another defendant on Jan. 6. Walls-Kaufman and Taranto are co-defendants in a civil lawsuit brought by the widow of Jeffrey Smith, a Metropolitan Police Department officer who committed suicide after the Jan. 6 attack. The lawsuit accuses both men of playing a role in Smith’s death, which they have denied.
Law enforcement officials said they found the weapons and ammunition inside Taranto’s truck when he was arrested near Obama’s home on June 29. Donald Trump posted a screenshot that included an alleged address of Obama’s home on his social media platform.
“We have these losers surrounded! See you in hell, Podesta’s and Obama’s,» Taranto wrote, reposting Trump.
Last month, federal authorities said Taranto livestreamed a video saying he was heading to the National Institute of Standards and Technology and intended to blow up his vehicle.
Kathryn Guevara, a federal public defender representing Taranto, said Taranto was not receiving mental health treatment or medication at the DC jail where he is being held, a situation that Faruqui said he would seek to remedy, calling it «completely unacceptable.»
The Taranto attorney said she believed her client was being treated differently from other misdemeanor defendants on January 6.
“I think my client is being treated differently by the government in this case,” Guevara said, noting that the vast majority, if not all, of the January 6 defendants who were indicted of the same four misdemeanors were released from pretrial detention. preventive prison.
In the 22 months between Taranto’s identification and his arrest, he posted multiple times wondering why he hadn’t been arrested. During a trip to DC last year, Taranto posted a video of himself walking on the Capitol grounds and shaking hands with a Capitol police officer.
«I’m still waiting for this show to get going… where’s Merrick?» Taranto published in February 2023, according to the Department of Justice. «Look Mom! I am an insurrectionary now and on television!”
Taranto, during a recent YouTube interview, also «endorsed a conspiracy theory that [Ashli] Babbitt’s death was a hoax and the first responders and people around her were actors,» federal prosecutors said.
Authorities said they also found a machete in Taranto’s truck. Law enforcement records say Taranto has 20 guns registered to him and that law enforcement had neither custody nor knowledge of the whereabouts of his other 18 guns.
Federal prosecutors said they also found the «Make Space Great Again» hat Taranto wore to the Capitol on Jan. 6 inside his truck.
Taranto, prosecutors said, «appears to express delusional beliefs that are inconsistent with reality.» They said he appeared to have «little regard for the law» and that it was «difficult to imagine» that he would be able to meet the conditions of release.