
Justice Department court exhibits show Taylor Taranto, left, in a photo he posted to Facebook while inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Right: Justice Department provided footage from inside the Capitol, Taranto is circled in yellow in exhibit.
An accused Jan. 6 rioter who allegedly threatened lawmakers and showed up to Barack Obama‘s home in Washington, D.C., back in 2023 — toting guns, ammunition and supplies for an explosive device — wants his criminal charges for those incidents dropped, saying President Donald Trump‘s executive order pardoning Capitol attackers also covers “conduct related to” the 2021 insurrection, which he claims it was.
“Mr. Taranto respectfully moves this Honorable Court to dismiss all counts including those that allege conduct on June 28 and 29, 2023, on the ground that all his charges relate to the events on January 6, and are therefore covered by the President’s Executive Order,” a motion to dismiss reads from rioter Taylor Taranto’s lawyer, Carmen D. Hernandez, which was filed last week.
“From the start and throughout the pendency of this prosecution, the government and this Court have treated the allegations set out in all the counts as related to the events of January 6,” the motion says. “Indeed, by including all the charges in a single indictment the government necessarily determined that all the charges are sufficiently related.”