Jan. 6 defendant who cased Obama’s neighborhood made week-long series of threats

A man arrested last week for breaching the Capitol on Jan. 6 drove a van full of weapons to Barack Obama’s neighborhood before his June 30 arrest, appearing to target the former president’s home after a Truth Social post from Donald Trump that identified the Obama family’s Kalorama address, prosecutors say.

“[Taylor] Taranto used his own Truth Social account to re-post the address,” prosecutors wrote in court papers filed Wednesday. “On Telegram, Taranto then stated, ‘We got these losers surrounded! See you in hell, Podesta’s and Obama’s.’ Shortly thereafter, Taranto again began livestreaming from his van on his YouTube channel. This time, Taranto was driving through the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington D.C.”

Taylor Taranto’s June 29 arrest — after a foot pursuit near Rock Creek Parkway — capped a week-long period in which his erratic and menacing behavior escalated the urgency from law enforcement to find him. It was only after he entered Obama’s Secret Service-protected neighborhood that officials were able to track his movements closely. Taranto, speaking on a livestream, discussed finding an entrance to the Obamas’ home via the sewers.

In the days prior to his arrest, Taranto had broadcast threats to blow up the National Institute of Standards and Technology, warned Speaker Kevin McCarthy that he “can’t stop what’s coming,” and entered an elementary school near the Maryland home of Rep. Jamie Raskin while livestreaming apparent threats to the Democratic congressman.

Taranto had been living out of a van for two months before his arrest, traveling from his home state of Washington to the nation’s capital, prosecutors say, after reports that McCarthy had pledged to provide access to Jan. 6 security footage to those charged in the attack. Taranto called McCarthy’s office on June 27, according to the Justice Department in a 26-page filing seeking Taranto’s pretrial detention.

The filing paints a remarkable picture of a man addled by conspiracy theories — who acted so erratically he was banished from a protest site organized by supporters of other Jan. 6 defendants — who had access to an arsenal of weapons prior to his arrest. Prosecutors say Taranto had two firearms in his van: a Smith and Wesson M&P Shield and a Ceska 9mm CZ Scorpion E3. But another 18 guns registered in his name have not yet been recovered, they say.

A June 30 search of the van also uncovered “hundreds of rounds of nine-millimeter ammunition, a steering wheel lock, and a machete.”

In addition, prosecutors worry that Taranto has outside help in covering his tracks.

“Since his arrest, at least two of his social media accounts appear to have either deleted information or been deleted entirely,” they write. “It is unknown at this time who is deleting these accounts, but there is a concern that if released, Taranto will continue to attempt to destroy evidence.”

The episode also underscores the sometimes confoundingly slow pace of arrests pertaining to the Jan. 6 attack, which has strained Justice Department resources as they pursue hundreds of lingering cases. Taranto was spotted in the federal courthouse by U.S. Marshals and an NBC reporter at the sentencing of Jan. 6 defendant David Walls-Kaufman on June 14, engaging in a brusque exchange with court security officials after violating the courthouse’s policy of cell phone use. At the time, Taranto had been identified — for more than a year — as someone who had been in close proximity to Walls-Kaufman on Jan. 6.

Four days after his appearance at the courthouse, on a Sunday, Taranto showed up at Piney Branch Elementary School in Raskin’s Takoma Park neighborhood.

“I didn’t tell anyone where he lives ’cause I want him all to myself,” Taranto told listeners on a livestream, while he and several associates entered the school and used a projector to broadcast a Jan. 6-related film, according to prosecutors.

A day after he called McCarthy’s office, Taranto livestreamed on his YouTube channel that he was in his van in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and planned to detonate explosives at the NIST building. Law enforcement was aware of the threat but indicated that they still struggled to locate him.

“Prior to June 28, 2023, law enforcement was searching for Taranto, but his lack of a fixed address frustrated efforts to find him. Upon seeing his threatening comments, law enforcement escalated efforts to locate Taranto and increased resources to assist in the search,” prosecutors indicated. “However, efforts to locate Taranto that day were unsuccessful.”

At a detention hearing in federal court Wednesday, where Taranto appeared in an orange jumpsuit, his defense attorney Kathryn Guevara called the government’s case “hyperbole” built around out-of-context statements that were First Amendment-protected speech, not actual threats. She noted that Taranto, a military veteran who served Iraq, had been receiving regular therapy for PTSD and has no criminal history.

Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui appeared vexed over the case for a more technical reason: Taranto is only charged with four misdemeanors stemming from the Capitol attack. And under those circumstances, he said, federal law may only permit him to detain Taranto if he views him as a flight risk. But Faruqui said he’s not particularly worried about Taranto being a flight risk but rather for the danger he poses to the community.

Compounding the challenge, prosecutors say the investigation remains active and urgent, with new details being briefed to the Justice Department even up to minutes before the hearing. If Taranto is charged for conduct pertaining to his actions in recent weeks, it could change the calculus for his detention.

Faruqui made no decision on Taranto’s pretrial detention Wednesday but will continue the hearing on Thursday. Taranto’s wife was present in the courtroom and was prepared to testify about arrangements she would make at her home if Taranto were released on pretrial conditions.