A man was arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department and federal law enforcement on Thursday near former President Barack Obama’s Washington, D.C., home with materials to make explosives and firearms.
Taylor Taranto, 37, had an open arrest warrant related to the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to multiple reports. He was charged with being a fugitive from justice. Law enforcement officials stated that firearms and materials to make Molotov cocktails were found in Taranto’s car. They also said that there was no indication of a threat to the Obamas, but Taranto went on live stream before he was arrested, claiming he had a detonator.
Social media users want to know how Taranto was allowed to roam free after all this time.
“Inquiring minds would like to know if there was an outstanding arrest warrant for Taylor Taranto, why wasn’t he arrested at the trial of his J6 codefendant 15 days ago where he got into trouble with Marshalls at the court house,” one Twitter user wrote.
Another user wrote, “And yet in the majority of J6 cases the judges are refusing pre-trial detentions, adequate longer FA&FO sentences, and wear blinders thinking not only will none do it again, that they aren’t still a danger in so many other ways.”
Other social media users blame former President Donald Trump for disclosing the Obamas’ address.
Taranto reportedly shared a post from Trump revealing an address for the nation’s first Black president hours before his arrest near the Obamas’ home.
A report by NBC News shows that on June 14 Taranto was spotted hanging with supporters of Jan. 6 defendants who call themselves the “Freedom Corner” near the Central Detention Facility in Washington, D.C.
He was also spotted at the sentencing of David Walls-Kaufman, a D.C. chiropractor who admitted that he “scuffled” with Capitol officer Jeffrey Smith and other officers during the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, according to NBC News. Smith committed suicide several days after the attack. Walls-Kaufman was sentenced to 60 days in jail. He and Taranto are also defendants in a lawsuit by Smith’s widow.
Reilly also reported that Taranto had not been charged criminally for his role in the Capitol riots as of June 14.
A spokesperson for the Obamas declined to comment on the situation.
