Federal prosecutors told a judge Thursday they are considering additional charges against an accused January 6 rioter arrested while looking for the Washington, D.C., residence of former President Barack Obama last week.
The Justice Department is seeking to hold Taylor Franklin Taranto in custody pending trial. In court papers, prosecutors said they believe Taranto is a flight risk because he has been living in his van, which contained a machete, two firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition on the day of his arrest. That van has since been impounded.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui signaled he would rule on the government’s request for detention at a hearing on July 12. But the judge said he’s wrestling with the decision because Taranto, a U.S. Navy veteran, is currently charged only with four misdemeanors, including knowingly entering the U.S. Capitol and engaging in disorderly conduct there more than two years ago.
Authorities filed those charges last week, around the same time they said Taranto began to livestream threats against a series of prominent people in Washington. Among other things, Taranto filmed himself saying he was in Obama’s neighborhood in the hunt for “entrance points” and he “wanted to get a good angle on a shot.”
Prosecutors said Taranto’s wife told them he came to D.C. in June after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., offered to release video footage from the storming of the Capitol. Taranto soon became a regular attendee at a protest site near the D.C. Jail where supporters of accused rioters gather, a place where some protesters said they grew uneasy about him and his mental health.
In recent weeks, authorities said, Taranto used his YouTube channel to stream threats against a prominent Democratic congressman, a federal research facility, and the House speaker.
Then, on June 29, former President Donald Trump posted what he claimed was the address of his predecessor, Obama, on a social…
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