Judge rejects pardoned Tri-Cities Jan. 6 defendant’s bid to have Obama threats dropped

A Tri-Cities man pardoned by President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riots will have to stand trial for his later charges for threatening lawmakers.

U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols denied Taylor Taranto’s attempt to have his other charges thrown out, according to new court filings on Wednesday.

Taranto, 39, of Pasco, asked the court to drop felony federal weapons charges and a misdemeanor charge for a bomb threat, claiming that because his actions in June 2023 were related to Jan. 6, they were covered by the pardon.

He was arrested on a warrant for Jan. 6 related charges after making a series of threats against lawmakers and claiming he was going to use his van as a bomb to blow up a federal building, according to court documents.

Federal law enforcement arrested Taranto as he was livestreaming an attempt to gain access to former President Barack Obama’s D.C. home. Two guns he was not registered to be carrying were found in his nearby van.

He was allegedly there 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.

Trump later denounced Taranto’s actions and said the two had never met, after a picture of Taranto posing with a cardboard cutout of Trump circulated online. That photo was from a Franklin County Republican Party meeting.

In the before days of his arrest, Taranto had allegedly made a series of threats on livestreams and through messaging apps against former Vice President Kamala Harris, and two members of congress.

Taranto has claimed he was trying to gather evidence about a Jan. 6 cover up.

He is a U.S. Navy veteran and the former webmaster for the Franklin County Republican Party.

Local party officials previously told the Herald that they had cut ties with Taranto months before his 2023 arrest due to his erratic behavior.

Taranto is also a defendant in a civil lawsuit for the wrongful death of a D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer who was injured during the riot in an alleged attack by Taranto and co-defendant David Walls-Kaufman after they breached the capitol building.

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.

Before his pardon Walls-Kaufman pleaded guilty to his role in the riot and admitted to “scuffling” with the officer. He allegedly hit the officer with a heavy metal cane handed to him by Taranto.