Machete suspect nabbed before Trump Capitol visit allegedly ranted about president-elect online
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The 44-year-old man charged with trying to smuggle a machete and other knives into the U.S. Capitol on the same day President-elect Donald Trump went to pay his respects as late former President Jimmy Carter lay in state appears to have made a series of anti-Trump posts on social media.

Mel J. Horne faces multiple charges of carrying a dangerous weapon after he tried to get into the Capitol Visitor Center with a machete, two folding knives and a box cutter, according to court documents. Yet, he was released just days before Inauguration Day.

An account on X under his name and linked to a handle associated with his phone number found in court documents shows he made several anti-Trump posts in recent days.

The account referred to both the president-elect and billionaire Elon Musk as “s—bags” while responding to a Trump parody account that asked, “Do you like Elon Musk?”

Trump, who was attending the Carter memorial the same day Horne allegedly tried to sneak weapons in, will be inaugurated for his second term on Jan. 20. 

A D.C. Superior Court judge granted Horne a conditional release while awaiting trial, court records show. Specifics of his terms of release were not immediately publicly available.

Another man, Adrian Hinton, was also arrested that day after allegedly trying to torch a vehicle near the Grant Memorial. He’s due in court later this week.

Horne’s arrest report identifies him as a prior felon, although the nature of his prior conviction was not immediately clear. He was previously jailed in 2019, but the Department of Corrections told Fox News Digital it was not authorized to release records on that case. Court records show he faced a number of misdemeanor charges in 2004.

Winter storm in Washington

A plow clears snow in front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2025. Horne reportedly told police that the machete they allegedly found was one of his landscaping tools. They noted the city just had a snowstorm. (Reuters/Marko Djurica)

“My son is living in our house (rent free) and in the past year has started to use a substance to get high or alter his mind,” his mother, Brenda Horne, alleged in a civil complaint. “Now he is getting violent, and we are afraid and want him removed from our home.”

She asked the judge to order his removal from her property and to force him into mental health treatment. 

The case was ultimately dismissed without prejudice and Horne agreed to stay away from his parents’ home for a year, with the caveat that he was allowed to return only to the property’s exterior to take care of his bonsai trees, according to court documents.

Fox News’ Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.

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