Jan. 6 defendant arrested at Obama's home is hit with new felony charges
Taylor Taranto, a Jan. 6 defendant who was arrested near former President Obama's home after former President Trump posted the address faces new gun charges.
WASHINGTON — A Jan. 6 defendant who was arrested near the Washington home of former President Barack Obama over the summer after former President Donald Trump posted a screenshot that included the address has been hit with five new charges.
A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment against Taylor Taranto, who, as NBC News reported, was first identified by online sleuths back in 2021 but wasn't arrested until last June when he showed up near Obama's home.
Taylor Taranto, center, at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Metropolitan Police DepartmentThree of the new charges relate to guns and ammunition that alleged to have been found in Taranto's van when he was arrested. Taranto also faces a felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding for his conduct on Jan. 6, 2021. He also faces a charge of false information and hoaxes, accused of falsely threatening that he was going to set off an explosive at the National Institute of Standards and Technology before his eventual arrest.After he was identified by online “sedition hunters” but before his arrest, Taranto and another man, David Walls-Kaufman, were sued by the widow of the late Officer Jeffrey Smith. Smith was assaulted on Jan. 6 and died by suicide days after the Capitol attack. His death was ruled to have occurred in the line of duty.
The civil wrongful death lawsuit alleges that Taranto and Walls-Kaufman contributed to Smith's death. Taranto was seen in multiple videos cited in the lawsuit carrying a weaponized cane near Smith during a scuffle between officers and rioters, in which Smith appeared to be assaulted. Smith's own body-worn camera video, released as a result of the lawsuit, also shows a separate incident in which Smith was hit with a flying metal object, an event that occurred hours after he was near Walls-Kaufman and Taranto inside the Capitol.
Taranto showed up at Walls-Kaufman's sentencing on Jan. 6 charges in Washington last June, the month he was arrested outside the Obama residence. Walls-Kaufman, who was not charged with assault but who admitted he "scuffled" with officers, was sentenced to 60 days in federal prison and was released in September, according to Bureau of Prisons records. The civil suit against both men is still pending.
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