A 44-year-old man reportedly shared several anti-Trump posts online before showing up at the U.S. Capitol ahead of the President-elect’s visit with a machete and knives.
Mel J. Horne was charged with carrying a dangerous weapon after he was caught trying to sneak into the Capitol Visitor Center with a machete, two folding knives, and a box cutter in his bag. Trump was attending the Jimmy Carter memorial that day.
Horne claimed the weapons were landscaping tools adding that he was homeless and “carries these items everywhere he travels.”
On social media, Horne referred to Trump and Elon Musk as “s---bags” and “enemies of the state.”
He also called for Trump to be prosecuted in response to a post about Jan. 6 protester Ashli Babbitt.
“Trump should be tried because he rallied them folks and sent them in there…He sent that girl to die.”
Horne was granted a conditional release after his arrest. Court documents identify him as an ex-felon who was previously detained in 2019.
