Man accused of targeting Obama’s DC home after Trump social media post

A man arrested last week for his participation in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol allegedly targeted former President Obama’s home in Washington, D.C., after former President Trump posted what he claimed was his predecessor’s address on social media.

Taylor Taranto was arrested in the Kalorama neighborhood of D.C. where the Obamas reside last Thursday and charged with four misdemeanor offenses related to the Jan. 6 riot. 

Earlier in the day on Thursday, Taranto had reposted Trump’s Truth Social post purporting to contain the Obamas’ address, according to court documents filed on Wednesday. He then began livestreaming from his van as he drove through the Kalorama neighborhood and continued to film after parking his car and beginning to walk around. 

Taranto “made it clear that he intended to access or enter the private residences of his subjects,” as he focused his camera several sewer grates that he described as “entrance points,” the court filing noted.

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Secret Service in the area monitored Taranto during his excursion through the neighborhood and apprehended him after he attempted to flee when they approached.

Two firearms, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a machete were found during a search of Taranto’s van, where he appeared to have been living for the past two months.

Law enforcement had previously been searching for Taranto over his role in the Jan. 6 riot but escalated their efforts after he posted a livestream last Wednesday, suggesting that he intended to blow up his car at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland and made “ominous comments” about Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

Earlier this month, he also livestreamed himself and several others entering an elementary school in Maryland after hours and projecting Jan. 6 footage in an apparent effort to intimidate Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who he believed lived nearby.

“Unlike many other January 6 misdemeanor defendants, Taranto, acting on the same impulses that drove his actions on January 6, 2021, has continued to pursue the objectives of the riot while making numerous and varied threats at the same time he possessed firearms, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and a machete,” prosecutors said in Wednesday’s filing.