The Washington Post is reporting court documents reveal that the man accused of heading to Barack Obama's Washington, D.C. home with a gun had threatened lawmakers in the past.
Prosecutors on Wednesday detailed the criminal history of Taylor Taranto, the Jan. 6 participant and QAnon loyalist who was arrested on June 29.
While driving through Maryland towards the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology, Taranto live-streamed details of a plot to detonate a bomb inside his van parked at the federal facility, the complaint says.
The Washington Post reveal he also threatened Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), one of the impeachment managers for Donald Trump, and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
Taranto left his Washington state home to drive to DC after McCarthy told the Jan. 6 defendants they could review footage of the Capitol security videos.
The detention memo cites Taranto's participation in D.C. rallies in support of the Capitol attackers jailed in Washington, but said he was kicked out of the event after he was acting weird and tried to play a video of Ashli Babbitt being shot while her mother was there. He had been promoting a conspiracy theory that Babbitt's death was a hoax and those around her were actors, the documents claim.
Prosecutors also detailed a live stream Taranto did on June 18 in which he and others went into the Piney Branch Elementary School in Takoma Park, MD, where they showed a video about Jan. 6 and other issues. They allegedly chose the location "because it was close to the home of Raskin," the report said.
Taranto recorded himself saying he planned to go after Raskin because “he’s one of the guys that hates Jan. 6 people, or more like Trump supporters, and it’s kind of like sending a shock wave through him because I did nothing wrong and he’s probably freaking out," the court documents say.
Nine days later, another video showed up on Taranto's YouTube with an audio recording of him asking McCarthy to give him access to the Capitol riot footage.
It was the following day that Taranto plotted his van bomb at the NIST. During the live stream he “made ominous comments referencing Speaker McCarthy,” the documents continue. It included the threat: “Coming at you McCarthy. Can’t stop what’s coming. Nothing can stop what’s coming.”
Taranto was recently arrested near former President Barack Obama's D.C. residence with a van full of guns, according to authorities.
