WA Jan. 6 rioter ordered to ‘stay away from D.C.’ but can return to Tri-Cities
A pardoned Jan. 6 rioter from Pasco can head back to the Tri-Cities after a new conviction on gun and bombing hoax charges.
Taylor Taranto, 39, was granted bond until his sentencing hearing after spending nearly two years in jail. He was arrested for weapons that were in his van while livestreaming an attempt to gain access to former President Barack Obama’s Washington, D.C., home.
He also was convicted for threatening to use his van as a bomb to blow up a federal building.
He was released on personal recognizance, with a requirement to “stay away from Washington, D.C.,” according to court filings.
Taranto is expected to return to the Tri-Cities with his wife, according to court documents.
Earlier this week U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols convicted Taranto of two felony firearm charges, a misdemeanor ammunition charge and a felony bomb hoax charge after a four-day bench trial. Taranto opted not to have a jury.
He is likely facing a sentence of 21 to 27 months out of a maximum of five years, according to court documents.
After the verdict, Nichols ordered Taranto’s attorneys to prepare a motion for his release ahead of his sentencing. Prosecutors opposed his release arguing that Taranto still presents a serious danger to the community.
They agreed that the likely sentencing range is correct, but said the sentence for the bombing hoax can be served after the other crimes, resulting in a longer prison term.
Prosecutors also argued Taranto hasn’t accepted responsibility for his crimes, saying he was laughing during the trial when prosecutors showed videos of his actions.
His attorneys wrote that he deserves to spend Memorial Day weekend with his wife and two children, and to remain free until he’s sentenced.
Nichols has not yet set a sentencing date, but Taranto’s attorneys will have a status update next week, according to court documents. He was released from the D.C. Metropolitan Jail on Thursday afternoon.
He also remains a co-defendant in a civil lawsuit for the wrongful death of a D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer that he is accused of helping attack inside the Capitol building.
Threats and arrest
His arrest came after a warrant was issued for now pardoned Jan. 6 charges because of a number of threats he had been making online to lawmakers.
He also threatened to use his van as a bomb to blow up a federal building and claimed in private messages that he had a contract to kill former Vice President Kamala Harris, according to court documents.
While President Donald J. Trump pardoned Taranto, along with 1,500 other rioters, for his role in the 2021 insurrection, Nichols denied Taranto’s attempt to drop charges for the guns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition found in his van during the D.C. arrest and the bombing threat.
Taranto is a U.S. Navy veteran and a former webmaster for the Franklin County Republican Party. His attorneys have argued that he suffers from PTSD and, if released, needs to travel to a Puget Sound area veterans clinic for treatment.
Local Republican Party officials previously told the Herald that they had cut ties with Taranto months before his 2023 arrest due to his erratic behavior.
Targeting lawmakers
When Taranto was arrested, investigators found two guns in his van that he was not registered to be carrying, along with a significant amount of ammunition and multiple cell phones.
A charge for a high-capacity magazine was dropped after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling said the law enforcing the ban on those magazines was unconstitutional.
Taranto was allegedly in Obama’s neighborhood in response to a conspiracy theory posted by Trump on social media, which listed the address, according to court documents.
His attorneys claim Taranto’s statements about “trying to get a shot” were about filming.
He has claimed he is a self-styled satirical journalist. However on Tuesday, a video was introduced into evidence that prosecutors say showed Taranto admitting that his claim of being a journalist was a ruse, according to WUSA9 reporter Jordan Fischer.
Trump later denounced Taranto’s actions and said the two had never met, after a picture circulated online of Taranto posing with a cardboard cutout of Trump. That photo was from a Franklin County Republican Party meeting.
In the days before his arrest, Taranto allegedly had made a series of threats on livestreams and through messaging apps against former Vice President Kamala Harris, and two members of Congress for their roles in the Jan. 6 investigation. Federal agents were keeping tabs on his broadcasts after the threat to the federal building, according to court documents.
He had been traveling back and forth between Pasco and D.C. to attend various protests, court documents said.
Wrongful death of officer
His co-defendant in the wrongful death lawsuit, D.C. Chiropractor David Walls-Kaufman, admitted to “scuffling” with an officer during the riot at his Jan. 6 charges sentencing. He allegedly hit the officer with a heavy metal cane handed to him by Taranto.
A review panel ruled that Officer Jeffrey Smith suffered a concussion which led to his suicide after returning to duty. They said the injuries suffered in the riot were the “sole and direct cause” of his death when awarding his widow death benefits.
Walls-Kaufman was later pardoned after being sentenced to two months in jail.
His widow is suing the two men for $7 million in damages.
The civil trial is proceeding against Kaufman, but paused for Taranto until after his sentencing.