A 44-year-old man, Mel J. Horne, was charged with trying to smuggle a machete and other knives into the U.S. Capitol on the same day President-elect Donald Trump went to pay his respects to late former President Jimmy Carter. Horne appears to have made a series of anti-Trump posts on social media, including calling the president-elect and billionaire Elon Musk “s—bags”. The posts were made on a social media account linked to Horne’s phone number, which was found in court documents.
Horne’s account referred to Trump as an “enemy” and made references to Trump’s supporters, as well as to a Capitol police officer who shot a protester at the January 6, 2021, insurrection. Horne was released just days before Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
The U.S. Capitol Police stopped Horne at a security checkpoint after they allegedly found a machete and three knives in his bag. Horne told police that the bladed weapons were landscaping tools, claiming he was not coming from or on his way to a landscaping job and was instead homeless. He carries the items everywhere he travels.
A judge granted Horne a conditional release while awaiting trial, and his mother previously accused him of falling into drugs and psychosis and asked a court to have him removed from her home and ordered to go to mental health treatment.
