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A January 6 rioter on the run from the law who was arrested outside the Washington DC home of former President Barack Obama shared a social media post by ex-president Donald Trump revealing his predecessor’s address hours before he was detained.
Taylor Taranto, 37, was arrested on Thursday on charges stemming from his activities during the Capitol riot in early 2021. But he was also discovered to have several firearms and the materials needed to make a Molotov cocktail in the neighbourhood of the US capital where the Obamas live.
The matter is being reviewed by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Mr Taranto was detained by the Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department and federal law enforcement, and charged with being a fugitive from justice.
“Arresting officers requested MPD’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team to perform a vehicle sweep of the individual’s van near the location of the arrest,” MPD said in a statement, according to CNN. “There is no active threat to the community and this incident remains under investigation.”
Mr Taranto reposted a Truth Social post by Mr Trump which included an article containing the address of the Obamas as well as a number of other Democrats. Mr Taranto added his own comment: “Got them surrounded!”
The 2017 article shared by Mr Trump was a piece in The Phyllis Schlafly Report, named after the conservative activist who passed away in 2016, which mentioned the address of the home that the Obamas moved into after leaving the White House.
In a live stream, Mr Taranto told his audience that he also had a “detonator,” according to Mediaite.
The shocking scene played out in the wealthy neighbourhood of Kalorama on Thursday. Mr Taranto was chased by police and Secret Service while he ran towards the home of the Obamas and warned authorities that he had an explosive device.
CBS News reported that he fled after being spotted by Secret Service, who had apparently been alerted to his intentions after Mr Taranto made “threats during recent live streams on social media”.
Mr Taranto had an active arrest warrant related to the attack on the Capitol when he was captured near the former president’s home, according to CBS.
DC police confirmed to The Independent that Mr Taranto had been charged with being a fugitive from justice pursuant to another arrest warrant and that officers had conducted an explosives sweep of his vehicle.
“This afternoon, MPD and our federal law enforcement partners arrested 37-year-old Taylor Taranto, of no fixed address, in the 2400 block of Kalorama Road, Northwest. He has been charged with Fugitive from Justice, pursuant to an arrest warrant. Arresting officers requested MPD’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team to perform a vehicle sweep of the individual’s van near the location of the arrest. There is no active threat to the community and this incident remains under investigation,” wrote an MPD spokesperson.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Mr Obama or any members of his family were home at the time of the incident.
The former president was in DC earlier this week for lunch with his former VP, incumbent President Joe Biden, as the latter begins the long work of running for re-election.
rswi13 on June 30th, 2023 at 18:09 UTC »
Can Obama pursue legal action because of this? I’d enjoy seeing that.
Dalisca on June 30th, 2023 at 18:02 UTC »
These people are terrifying. They've found a cause they see as worth killing for and possibly even dying for, but not a one of them could give a logical reason to explain why they're so angry. You cram 50 of them in a room and ask them why they hate Obama, they'll cite conspiracy theories and half truths based on random blogs and Facebook posts, but will defend Donald Trump against crimes he's admitted in tape; it's "bravado" or "locker room talk".
The same people who voted for Bush Jr. because they claimed he'd be tougher on terrorism are currently the nation's biggest terroristic threat. They even attempted to find and hang both Pence and Pelosi going so far that they even constructed gallows.
And then they accuse democrats of being unwilling to participate in meaningful dialog. We're like, "Dude, put down the machine gun, take off the bandolier, and just for good measure, empty your pockets. THEN we'll be good for a peaceful discussion."
Yousoggyyojimbo on June 30th, 2023 at 17:43 UTC »
This is just another in in a very long pserues of events where we can draw a straight line from the violence to rhetoric coming directly from a republican or Republican media figure.
This is the pattern that we have been seeing over and over again from these people.
Fabricate conspiracy that blames X group, person, or business for Y problem/crime. This problem does not have to be real.
Repeat conspiracy over and over, building the chosen blame recipient up into an increasingly sinister figure.
Consistently frame this chosen blame recipient as an existential threat to their listener.
When a listener acts on this, attacking that person, group, or business, pretend that this had nothing to do with anything the person spreading the conspiracy has said. Accuse those who recognize the connection of trying to politicize a tragedy or crime.
Continue to push the same conspiracy that has already led to violence. Repeat steps as necessary.
We've seen them do this continuously.
This is how we got the maga bomber
This is how we got bomb threats to children's hospitals, target (edit: target was more generalized threats to employees) Budweiser etc.
This is how we had mass shooters who were writing about the same conspiracy theories that Tucker Carlson and Fox News have been broadcasting in their manifestos.
This is how we have had repeated hate crimes committed against LGBTQ people and targeted violence at drag events.
This is how we had January 6th.
This is how we had a man attack the FBI in Ohio.
This is why we have had various professionals receiving death threats over things like them acknowledging climate change, or promoting vaccines.
This is why we had poll workers getting peppered with death threats.
This is why Paul Pelosi got attacked in his home with a hammer.
This is why people were plotting to kidnap and murder the governor of Michigan.
I can keep going. You can draw a straight line to where all these acts of violence originated. Every one of them started with a Republican politician or media that is promoting propaganda for Republican politicians.