On the latest episode of “Jan. 6 rioters in trouble with the law... again,” Taylor Taranto is finally facing the music after a series of careless decisions and violent threats led him right back in front of a federal judge. The 39-year-old was one of the 1,500 Capitol insurrectionists pardoned by President Donald Trump this year, but despite being given a second chance, Taranto couldn’t resist getting in trouble.
It all started two years after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in Washington, D.C. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Taranto — an avid MAGA supporter — began live-streaming himself on June 28, 2023, in his van. He told his audience he had been “working on a detonator” and suggested he was on an “one-way mission” to drive a car bomb into the National Institute of Standards and Technology. This put him on the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the Joint Terrorism Task Force’s watch list.
Officials didn’t catch up to him until the next day (June 29, 2023) during another one of Taranto’s streams. This time, he posted up near former President Barack Obama’s house in Washington, D.C., according to NBC News.
For those wondering how he even got Obama’s address in the first place, you can turn to Trump, who posted a screenshot on social media which included what he said was Obama’s Washington address, according to PBS. Prosecutors said Taranto reposted Trump’s post and later shared he was outside the former president’s home. “We got these losers surrounded!” Taranto wrote.
Taranto was soon arrested on a fugitive from justice warrant by officers, who also found two guns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and even a machete in his van, according to the DOJ. Almost two years later on Tuesday (May 20), Taranto was convicted by a federal judge for his 2023 spectacle.
“I think it’s a terrible outcome under a statute that is overbroad and violates the First Amendment,” Taranto’s attorney, Carmen Hernandez, told NBC News. “Mr. Taranto is an honorably discharged, disabled veteran with no prior convictions, no history of violent conduct. He’s been convicted of having made a bad joke with absolutely no evidence that he intended to carry out any criminal conduct.”
He was convicted of illegally carrying two firearms without a license, unlawfully possessing ammunition and false information and hoaxes, according to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro and FBI Assistant Director in Charge Steven J. Jensen of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Crimes.
It was U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols— a Trump appointee— who laid down the ruling on Tuesday. He said the livestreamed videos ultimately led to him finding Taranto guilty on all counts, according to WUSA.
Taranto’s lawyers argued their client simply has a “dark sense of humor” stemming from his time in the military. Judge Nichols delayed setting a sentencing date for Taranto. Instead, he urged prosecutors to respond to Taranto’s attorneys, who are expected to file a motion to release him.