Taylor Taranto, a man pardoned for his role in the January 6 Capitol events, just got slapped with a time-served sentence after a chilling 2023 incident near former President Barack Obama’s Washington, D.C., neighborhood.
CBS News reported that Taranto was convicted for livestreaming a bomb threat while cruising around Obama’s turf, alongside illegally carrying firearms and ammo, culminating in a 21-month sentence equivalent to his pretrial detention plus three years of supervised release.
Taranto’s actions came hot on the heels of a post by President Donald Trump on Truth Social, purportedly sharing Obama’s address, which Taranto then amplified to his own audience.
Not long after that social media share, Taranto took to the streets, livestreaming threats that landed him in hot water with the law for a bomb threat near a former president’s home.
At the time of his arrest in 2023, authorities discovered he was packing two firearms without a license and had unlawful ammunition on hand—a serious no-no that added to his legal woes.
Fast forward to Thursday, and U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols handed down the sentence: 21 months, already served in pretrial detention, plus three years of supervised release to keep tabs on Taranto’s next moves.
Judge Nichols didn’t stop at time served; he ordered Taranto to undergo drug testing and a mental health evaluation as part of his release conditions, signaling a need for deeper oversight.
Now, here’s where the courtroom drama thickens—the Justice Department initially filed a sentencing memo pushing for a 27-month term, referencing Taranto’s past involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol events as part of a “mob of rioters.”
That phrase, straight from the original filing as “thousands of people comprising a mob of rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol,” didn’t sit well with some, and by Wednesday, the memo was yanked and replaced with a shorter version scrubbing those details.
The revised memo also swapped out references to Trump’s post and listed new prosecutors alongside D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, leaving the original team in the dust.
Speaking of that original team, prosecutors Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White found themselves placed on leave after their court papers described January 6 as a riot by a mob, according to sources speaking to CBS News.
They were in the courtroom Thursday for the sentencing but kept mum when reporters came knocking, perhaps sensing the political third rail they’d stumbled onto.
Adding fuel to this fire, former President Trump has called January 6 a “day of love” and the participants “hostages,” a stark contrast to the Justice Department’s initial harsh words.
With Trump having granted clemency to over 1,500 accused and convicted individuals tied to the Capitol events earlier this year, Taranto’s pardon before this incident raises eyebrows about accountability in a polarized landscape.