Pardoned WA J6er wants some of $1.8B Trump fund. And he’s on a Tri-Cities ballot
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Pasco J6er seeks share of Trump’s $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund.
- He faces a June 8 final revocation hearing on probation violations.
- He was sentenced to 21 months (time served) and three years probation.
A pardoned Tri-Cities January 6 rioter wants a cut of President Trump’s proposed $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.
But he might be headed back to jail for probation violations related to his bomb hoax and weapon charges conviction for threatening to blow up and federal building before trying to get inside former President Barack Obama’s Washington, D.C. home.
Taylor Taranto, 40, of Pasco, appeared at a Franklin County commissioners meeting in Pasco last week to ask for help applying for the Trump fund.
“I think you guys heard this week that I am potentially the richest man in the Tri-Cities, and I am going to need help applying for the DOJ anti-weaponization fund ...,” Taranto said during the public comment portion of the meeting.
And he might actually have a case for getting a cut, after prosecutors in his Washington, D.C., felony case were removed last year for describing the events of Jan. 6, 2021, as a riot.
Taranto was accused of helping another rioter attack a police officer by giving him a heavy metal cane.
The officer later died by suicide, which medical examiners said was related to the head injuries sustained in the attack. His co-defendant was convicted, admitted to “scuffling” with the officer and lost a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the widow.
Probation violations
Taranto also mentioned his probation at the Franklin County meeting, saying he was aware he could go back to jail if he violated it.
The next day he had a court hearing to discuss repeated violations of his probation. U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols has set a final revocation hearing for June 8, according to court documents.
Taranto was sentenced to 21 months on the weapons charges, which covered the time he served awaiting trial without bail. He was also sentenced to three years probation.
Notes from the hearing show that probation officers attempted to do a home visit and ran into resistance.
They also believe that Taranto may have prohibited items in his home. That could be two things, according to the terms of his probation: unregistered electronic devices or guns.
Taranto is required to let officers do a walkthrough and inspect his living space and van, with the authority to immediately take any prohibited items they observe in plain view.
In the six months since he was released from the D.C. Metropolitan Jail, Taranto has repeatedly violated his probation, according to court records.
It took several months and threats of jail to get him to return to the Tri-Cities. He was also barred from U.S. Capitol grounds.
Taranto is a disabled U.S. Navy veteran who suffers from PTSD, according to court documents. Part of his conditions for release include mental health treatment, but he has shown a resistance to it. He also mentioned being in recovery for addiction at the meeting.
Back with Republican Party?
Taranto also said at the Franklin County meeting that he had filed to be a Republican Party precinct officer. Candidate filings show he is running unopposed for precinct 3 in Franklin County.
The county party previously distanced itself from Taranto due to his erratic behavior. He is the party’s former webmaster.
Precinct officers are low-level elected officials who serve on the county party’s central committee and are responsible for voter outreach, helping select party leadership and other tasks. Most counties are broken out into more than 100 precincts, which could cover a neighborhood or a large rural stretch.
Their most important role is voting on candidates to put forward for replacing county elected officials from their party who have died or stepped down. The county party puts together a list of three candidates to be selected by the county’ board of commissioners.
The replacement is then at an advantage with name recognition and experience in the office.
Most recently this process played out in Benton County when Sheriff Tom Croskrey resigned.
There is no indication he has otherwise been involved in the local party since returning to the Tri-Cities.
What is the $1.8 billion fund?
The “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was announced earlier this month as part of a settlement agreement between President Trump and the Internal Revenue Service.
While Trump will receive no formal payment from the settlement, in addition to the $1.8 billion fund, he will receive an apology and a guarantee his family or businesses will not be audited ever again.
The fund will be used to issue formal apologies and monetary relief to people the administration believes have been unfairly targeted or prosecuted.
While no formal application process has been released, those who believe they may be eligible include other Jan. 6 defendants, as well as other Trump allies like My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Why was Taranto convicted?
Taranto was convicted last year of carrying guns without a license, unlawful possession of ammunition and false information or hoaxes after a series of threats to lawmakers and the former president.
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.
At the time he was also targeting Congressman Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland. Taranto believes that the House Committee on Jan. 6, led by Raskin, hid evidence of a cover-up.
In the days before his 2023 arrest near Obama’s D.C. home, Taranto had been in Raskin’s Takoma Park, Maryland, neighborhood allegedly going onto the campus of a nearby school attended by the congressman’s children, according to prosecutors.
Raskin brought the incident up at a House Judiciary meeting last year when he spoke about Jan. 6 defendants committing new crimes.
Taranto’s 2023 arrest was made using an expedited warrant related to the Jan. 6 charges, which were initially part of the same case.
He was arrested after livestreaming himself trying to gain access to Obama’s home.
Taranto was sentenced to time served with three years probation in October. He was held without bail for nearly two years after Nichols agreed he presented a threat to the community.
The Capitol riot charges were dropped after President Donald Trump issued a mass pardon when he returned to office.
Due to his lengthy criminal trial, Taranto was dropped as a co-defendant in the wrongful death lawsuit for allegedly helping another rioter attack a Capitol police officer, who later died by suicide because of a concussion suffered in the attack.
David Walls-Kaufman admitted to “scuffling” with the officer during his own trial on charges related to the riot.
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.
Smith’s widow was awarded $500,000 in damages in the civil suit.
While Taranto has been ordered to stay away from Washington, D.C., and get mental health treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs, for months Taranto refused to do either, according to statements on livestreams on his Rumble account in early December and an interview with another channel.
January court filings mentioned only one virtual visit with a mental health provider.
Despite being ordered to leave D.C., Taranto livestreamed at least 200 times from the D.C. Metro area in the month following his release using the same Rumble account he had previously used to post videos of himself inside the U.S. Capitol building during the Jan. 6 riot.
Rumble is a video platform like YouTube, favored by right-wing commentators due to its perceived lack of moderation. Several of Taranto’s videos have racial slurs in the titles.
Many of the videos showed Taranto clearly walking around D.C., including outside federal buildings.
It’s unclear when he finally complied with court orders and returned to the Tri-Cities.
