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Man with weapons and Jan. 6 warrant arrested after running toward Obamas’ D.C. home
A man with materials to make explosives and an active Jan. 6-related warrant was arrested by law enforcement in former President Barack Obama’s Washington, D.C., neighborhood, multiple sources briefed on the matter tell CBS News.
Several sources identified the suspect as 37-year-old Taylor Taranto, of Seattle, Washington. Secret Service spotted him within blocks of the Obama’s home, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the matter. Taranto fled, and Secret Service chased him. He was running toward the Obama home, but was apprehended before reaching it.
Taranto’s van was parked close to where he was arrested. There were multiple weapons and the materials to make some kind of explosive device akin to a Molotov cocktail, but it had not been assembled, according law enforcement officials familiar with the details. He had said he had explosives, but first responders only found the materials to make them.
U.S. officials were concerned because Taranto had made threats during recent livestreams on social media against a public figure. He also had an open warrant on charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol. He wasn’t in Obama’s neighborhood by mistake, a U.S. official noted.
According to a senior law enforcement official, Taranto had been in Washington, D.C., area for a couple of months. He had been seen camping out in his van near the D.C. jail where many of the Jan. 6 defendants are being held, and some of his livestreams were apparently posted while he was in the D.C. area.
Taranto has been charged with being a fugitive from justice, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
The incident did not result in any injuries. It’s unclear if the Obamas were home at the time.
This is a developing story.
— Nick Kurtz and Robert Legare contributed to this report.
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Kash Patel, Trump’s pick for FBI director, targeted in possible Iran-backed cyberattack, sources say
Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, was recently notified that he was the target of a potential Iran-backed cyberattack, two people familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News.
The apparent hackers targeted his communications, but whether they succeeded and how much access they had to the data is still being investigated, the people said.
The FBI declined to comment. CBS News had also reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
The news of Iran’s potential targeting of Patel was first reported by Semafor.
This comes after months of warnings from the FBI and other federal agencies of Iranian cyber activity targeting Trump campaign staff leading up the 2024 presidential election. In September, Justice Department prosecutors charged three members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps with launching a broad hacking campaign against U.S. officials, including those close to Trump.
In August, Microsoft said that Iran was increasing its efforts to influence the November election, and in one case had targeted a presidential campaign with an email phishing attack.
Trump and his allies, including members of his first administration, have been targets of Iran since the 2020 killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, and U.S. officials continued to warn of those cyberattack campaigns in recent months.
The 44-year-old Patel served in intelligence and defense roles in Trump’s first term, including chief of staff to the secretary of defense. He was also designated by Trump to be a representative to the National Archives and Records Administration and fought a subpoena to testify before a federal grand jury in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.
He is an attorney and staunch Trump loyalist who rose to prominence as an aide to former Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of California, fighting the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
He served on Trump’s National Security Council, then as a senior adviser to acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell, and later as chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller.
President-elect Donald Trump is considering selecting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as his pick for defense secretary to potentially replace embattled Fox News host Pete Hegseth, two sources familiar with the transition told CBS News Tuesday night.
This comes after Trump and DeSantis attended a memorial for fallen law enforcement officers Tuesday in Florida.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report this story.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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