Firearm, high-capacity magazine charges filed against Jan. 6 defendant arrested near Obama home

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors unsealed two new felony weapons charges Friday against a Washington state man and Jan. 6 defendant arrested near the home of former President Barack Obama last month.

In a new grand jury indictment, Taylor Taranto, 37, is charged with carrying a pistol without a license and possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device, as well as four misdemeanors relating to his alleged conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Under D.C. law, both of the new weapons charges are felonies.

Taranto was arrested last month in D.C.'s Kalorama neighborhood after Secret Service agents reportedly spotted him acting strangely and making unusual comments on a live stream. A subsequent search of his nearby van turned up two weapons and several hundred rounds of ammunition, as well as a machete.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Allison Ethen described the arrest during a court hearing last week as the culmination of weeks of escalating threatening behavior by Taranto. The Justice Department initially suggested Taranto had trespassed at a Maryland school, where he livestreamed himself making comments about Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) — although later acknowledged he had entered as part of a permitted group for a video screening. Taranto is also accused of livestreaming himself threatening to blow up his van near the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, although his attorney says that claim relies on contemporaneous notes taken by FBI agents who watched a video that is no longer available.

Despite initially only being charged with misdemeanors relating to the riot, on Wednesday federal magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui ordered Taranto held without bond, saying he believed he could be a danger if released.

"I'm scared that if something goes wrong or there's an accident there could be catastrophic consequences," Faruqui said.

Taranto's attorney, assistant federal public defender Kathryn Guevara, has argued prosecutors have cherry-picked statements from her client's livestreams and presented false information to make him seem like a threat. During a hearing last week, she pointed out he had been living in his van near the D.C. Jail for approximately two months and had even appeared for another Jan. 6 defendant's hearing in D.C. District Court.

“Mr. Taranto has remained in plain sight,” Guevara said. “I am confident if law enforcement was monitoring him with the degree of concern they now claim to have they could have found him.”

Taranto, a U.S. Navy veteran, reportedly traveled to D.C. in response to what he perceive to be an invitation from Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to view unreleased footage of the Capitol riot. He had been a regular participant in the nightly vigil organized by supporters of Jan. 6 detainees until being asked to leave shortly prior to his arrest for claiming Ashli Babbitt, the woman killed while attempting to climb through a window into the Speaker's Lobby on Jan. 6, was still alive.

Taranto was next set to appear in court on July 25.