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Justice Department court exhibits show Taylor Taranto, left, in a photo he posted to Facebook while inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Right: Justice Department provided footage from inside the Capitol, Taranto is circled in yellow in exhibit.
After being charged for showing up to former President Barack Obama‘s home in Washington, D.C., last summer toting guns, ammunition and possible supplies for an explosive device, a federal grand jury has added five new felony counts to an existing indictment for Jan. 6 defendant Taylor Taranto.
As Law&Crime reported last year, Taranto, 37, was arrested on a fugitive for justice warrant on June 29 when he was found near Obama’s home in the elite Kalorama neighborhood in northwest Washington, D.C. He took off running toward the residence but was promptly chased off by Secret Service before being apprehended hours later when he was found lurking in woods near a busy thoroughfare.
Prosecutors said that in a van parked near the Obama’s home, Taranto had stashed weapons, including firearms and ammunition, as well as materials that could be fashioned into a Molotov cocktail-like device. They also claimed the U.S. Navy veteran had been lingering in Washington, D.C., for months before the incident on June 29.
He often slept in his van near a jail where many Jan. 6 defendants are detained, they said.
By the time Taranto was arrested last summer, he had been identified by “sedition hunters” — the community of online sleuths integral to reviewing open source footage from the Capitol attack in order to identify individuals in the mob.
Taranto showed up to Obama’s home the same day former President Donald Trump posted a screenshot on Truth Social that appeared to feature Obama’s home address. Prosecutors said Taranto reposted Trump’s message to his Telegram account alongside a message of his own.
“We got those losers surrounded! See you in hell Podesta’s and Obama’s,” Taranto wrote.
Podesta was a reference to Hillary Clinton’s onetime presidential campaign manager John Podesta.
Upon arrest, he was charged on two counts of unlawfully carrying a pistol as well as a felony charge for unlawful possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device. He was also hit with a number of charges tied to his conduct at the Capitol on Jan. 6 including: knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building ore grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and parading and demonstrating.
In a screengrab from a podcast provided in court records by the Justice Department, prosecutors say Jan. 6 defendant Taylor Taranto gleefully identified himself in footage from inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, crying out “That’s me!” when he saw himself in picture (right.)
A redacted Justice Department exhibit contained inside charging documents for Taylor Taranto allegedly shows his Facebook photo and page where he commented that this was him “stormin’ the Capitol’ lol’.”
The new charges added in the superseding indictment for the Seattle native this week include unlawful possession of an unregistered firearm, specifically a Scorpion CS short-barreled rifle; unlawful possession of ammunition; carrying a pistol without a license, specifically, a Scorpion CZ pistol; making false information and hoaxes; and notably, obstruction of an official proceeding on Jan. 6, 2021.
The false hoax charge is tied to a bogus threat Taranto allegedly made about setting off an explosive at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland before he was finally arrested.
Taranto’s legal troubles don’t end there.
Erin Smith, the wife of Metropolitan Police Department Officer Jeffrey Smith, sued him for her late husband’s assault and battery and wrongful death.
Jeffrey Smith died by suicide using his service weapon a week after he fought off the mob at the Capitol and was brutally attacked, including by being hit in the face with what might have been a crowbar.
A defense attorney could not immediately be reached for comment Friday. Taranto remains in detention and is expected to face trial in July.
