After Trump Posted What He Claims to Be Obama’s Address, Armed Man Was Arrested There, Prosecutors Say

Former President Donald Trump posted on his social media account what he claimed to be the home address of former President Barack Obama. This was on the same day that a man with guns in his van was detained nearby, as per the latest details released by federal prosecutors on Wednesday.

A Justice Department motion that seeks to keep Taylor Taranto, 37, in jail claims that he stored two firearms and a large quantity of ammunition in a van, notes Associated Press. Taranto had reportedly driven cross-country and been residing in this car while allegedly taking part in the incident at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Prosecutors believe that on the day of his detention, June 29, Taranto shared a post from Truth Social by Trump that contained what Trump claimed to be Obama's home address. “We got these losers surrounded! See you in hell, Podesta’s and Obama’s,” Taranto remarked in a Telegram message. John Podesta, the former campaign manager for Hillary Clinton's 2016 Democratic presidential campaign, was being referenced here.

A federal defender, Kathryn D'Adamo Guevara, filed a motion asking for Taranto's release pending a trial. The attorney claimed that Taranto was not a flight risk, had family in Washington state, and had served in Iraq before receiving an honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy. Guevara said, “Mr. Taranto has been available and in plain sight for the last two and a half years.”

The detention memo from the Justice Department states Taranto's wife informed investigators about the reason he came to Washington this time. She explained that it was because House Speaker Kevin McCarthy offered earlier this year to produce a previously unseen video January 6 Capitol attack. Taranto already faces four misdemeanor charges in connection with the Capitol attack. According to the prosecution, he joined the stampede of rioters that stormed the building and made his way to the Speaker's Lobby entrance outside the House chamber.

Prosecutors allege that Taranto has been active online ever since, endorsing a hoax theory about Ashli Babbitt's death and posting a Facebook video of himself in the Capitol that day. Babbitt was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer as she started to climb through a broken part of a door leading into the Speaker's Lobby.

Because of his involvement in the riot, the FBI had been keeping an eye on Taranto's online activities. On Wednesday, they started looking for him after he claimed on his YouTube live stream that he was in Gaithersburg, Maryland, on a "one-way mission." He said that his goal was to blow up the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

According to the detention memo, he continued his livestream the next day from Obama's neighborhood in Washington, D.C., which is closely watched by the U.S. Secret Service. Taranto stated he was looking for "entrance points" and wanted to get a "good angle on a shot." He was reportedly recognized by police a few blocks from the former president's house and ran while being pursued by Secret Service agents, according to officials.