KENNEWICK — A Tri-Cities man is one of the few Jan. 6 defendants still in jail after President Donald Trump’s sweeping pardons. Now his attorneys are arguing that the pardon should be applied to crimes he is accused of committing more than two years later.
Taylor Taranto, 39, of Pasco, has been held in the D.C. Metropolitan Jail without bail since June 2023 after making a series of threats against lawmakers then trying to gain access to former President Barack Obama’s D.C. home.
His court appointed attorneys are now asking a U.S. District Court judge to clear him of those charges, claiming his alleged behavior was related to the Jan. 6 riots.
He is still facing two federal felony weapon charges as well as a charge for bomb threats. A third firearms charge for possessing a large capacity magazine was dropped in September after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a federal ban on the magazines.
Prosecutors have not yet responded to the request for Taranto’s other charges to be dismissed.
How is it related to Jan. 6?
Taranto has been denied bail because of the seriousness of the threats, which included Taranto claiming in messages that he had a contract to kill former Vice President Kamala Harris, according to court documents.
He spent the two years after the riot traveling back and forth between the Tri-Cities and D.C. to participate in protests, largely related to the arrests of Jan. 6 defendants.
At the time of his arrest, federal agents requested an arrest warrant for him related to Jan. 6 charges after Taranto allegedly made a series of threats to blow up a federal building and threatened lawmakers on livestreams.
He targeted Maryland Rep. Jaime Raskin for his role on the Jan. 6 committee and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who he claimed hadn’t done enough to free arrested rioters.
Taranto’s attorneys say he was attempting to act as a journalist to gather evidence.
“Mr. Taranto, who considers himself a satirical reporter with an almost Jon Stewart or South Park-esque dry humor (that he would openly admit often did not land), often attempted to make jokes or double entendre references in an effort to discuss and explore certain conspiracy theories and lines of thinking adjacent to January 6 and related events,” his attorneys wrote.
They also said that prosecutors cannot argue the case without attempting to present evidence related to his pardoned Jan. 6 activities.
They argue that the two cases are linked because Taranto was arrested on a warrant for the Jan. 6 charges while livestreaming his attempt to gain access to gain access to Obama’s home.
A superseding indictment was later filed adding the federal weapons charges.
Taranto was allegedly there in response to a conspiracy theory Trump posted on Truth social about the Obamas and former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta’s elite Kalorama neighborhood, according to court documents. The social media post included the address.
Taranto’s claims on the livestream that he was “trying to get a shot” was actually a reference to filming, his attorneys said in court documents.
Taranto had no weapons on him when arrested, but a search of the van he claimed on livestreams was rigged to blow up turned up two firearms. He was not licensed to carry the weapons and one was not registered.
Trump later denounced Taranto in a social media post, and denied any connection to him after a photo of Taranto posing with a cutout of Trump at a Franklin County Republican Party meeting picked up steam online. The two never met in person.
The new documents don’t include any reference to the alleged claims he made on a messenger app that he had a contract to kill Harris or the threats he allegedly made on livestreams to blow up a federal building by rigging his van to explode.
In May 2023, Taranto allegedly discussed implanting an explosive tooth into the former vice president’s mouth.
The document says Taranto then stated, “This is the biggest contract I have ever satisfied,” “We have to kill them all,” “Payout is in the hundreds of millions.”
The excerpts from the messages also include Taranto telling the person he was messaging that militias had a duty to kill “traitors.”
“I’m not in anyway encouraging you or anyone else but those in positions of power and authority to try and execute those who willfully betrayed the American people. But if they fail . . . it will be up to the free constitutional militias that the same traitors are trying to terrorize by undoing the constitution they have an affirmed constitutional duty to deploy and kill any traitors.”
Just before his arrest in June, Taranto allegedly told the other user, “We still have to kill them all,” and told them to wait for a signal just days before threatening to use his van to blow up a federal building.
The documents also say Taranto allegedly applied for a job at the same federal building before he threatened to blow it up. It’s unclear if this was an attempt to gain access.
Civil lawsuit
Taranto also is a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit for his alleged role in an attack on a D.C. Metropolitan police officer who later died by suicide.
The pardon would not dismiss that civil lawsuit against Taranto and David Walls-Kaufman, a D.C. chiropractor who was sentenced to two months in prison after pleading guilty to his role in the riot and attacking the officer.
Taranto is accused of handing Walls-Kaufman a heavy metal tactical cane to use in the attack on officer Jeffrey Smart. Videos from the Capitol show Taranto with the cane, at one point even swinging it at other rioters.
Walls-Kaufmann admitted to “scuffling” with the officer during his sentencing, according to NBC News.
Smith’s widow was granted survivors benefits after a review found his injuries in the attack were the direct cause of his death.
That lawsuit is continuing for Walls-Kaufman, but has been placed on hold for Taranto until his criminal charges are settled.
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