The machete maniac was arrested before Trump’s visit to the Capitol began to talk about him online
The 44-year-old man accused of trying to smuggle knives and other knives into the US Capitol on the day President-elect Donald Trump went to pay his respects to the late former President Jimmy Carter while he was ill in the state appears to have carried out a series of acts. Anti-Trump posts on social media.
Mel J. Horne faces multiple charges of possession of a dangerous weapon after he tried to break into the Capitol Visitor Center with a machete, two folding knives and a box cutter. However, it was resolved just a few days before graduation.
An account in the name X and a hold on his phone number show in court documents that he has made several anti-Trump posts in recent days.
The bill responded to a Trump parody tag calling both the president-elect and billionaire Elon Musk “s—bags,” asking, “Do you like Elon Musk?”
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Mel Horn (Mel Horne/Instagram)
Another post On New Year’s Eve, the two men “act as permanent enemies of the government”. On Dec. 9, the label announced, “F — Them!”
Earlier, the account referred to Trump as the “enemy,” but also conveyed a prayerful message.
“Praying for all of us,” the post read. No matter how much of an enemy he is to the American people, he is our president-elect, so I certainly pray for his health and safety and for Jesus to touch his heart and show him the way. “
Jimmy Carter memorial: Suspect in Capitol Hill security attack during Trump visit identified
He called for Trump to be impeached in response to a tweet about a Capitol Police officer who shot a protester, Ashley Babbitt, on Jan. 6.
“Trump needs to be tried because he sent people there…” he added with a pair of emojis. “He sent that girl to die.”
Horne’s mother accused her of a history of drug and psychological problems and asked the court to order him out of her home and into mental health treatment.
A security guard stopped a man from entering the Capitol after police found a machete and three knives in his bag. (US Capitol Police)
Other posts include Tulsi Gabbard, former congresswoman and Trump’s director of national intelligence, nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Vice President J.D. Vance, and recently elected Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Daniel Penny, who was controversially charged after a man threatened to kill other passengers, has pleaded guilty.
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Capitol Police declined to comment on the tweets.
“To protect our privacy, we cannot discuss open investigations,” a spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Mel Horn (Mel Horne/Instagram)
Horne told Capitol Police that the seized weapons were land surveying equipment after placing them in an X-ray tray at the Capitol Visitor Center’s magnetometer screening area, according to the affidavit.
The officers asked him when the last landscaping job would be, noting that there was more than 6 inches of snow on the ground and that the city had declared a snow emergency days earlier.
Read the police Oath:
“(Horn) advised … that he was neither coming nor going to landscape work,” the affidavit continued. “(Horn) explained that he is homeless, and he carries these items everywhere he travels.”
Hours before Trump’s arrival, police arrested him after trying to carry a machete, 3 knives into our Capitol.
Trump, who attended Carter’s memorial service on the day Horn allegedly tried to sneak a weapon into office, begins his second term on January 20.
A D.C. Superior Court judge placed Horne on probation pending trial, court records show. The terms of his release were not immediately publicly available.
Another man, Adrian Hinton, was arrested later that day after allegedly trying to burn a vehicle in the Grant Memorial area. He will appear in court later this week.
Horn’s arrest report lists him as a prior felon, although his prior convictions are unclear. He was previously arrested in 2019, but the Department of Corrections told Fox News Digital it was not authorized to release records in that case. Court records show he was charged with multiple crimes in 2004.
A plow clears the snow in front of the US Capitol on January 6, 2025. Horne told police that the machete he allegedly found was one of the landing tools. He pointed out that the city had a snow storm. (Reuters/Marko Djurica)
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“My son has been living in our house (rent-free) and within the last year he has started using a substance or changing his mind,” his mother, Brenda Horne, said in the civil complaint. “Now he’s getting violent, and we’re scared and want him out of our house.”
She asked the judge to order him off her property and into mental health treatment.
The case was ultimately dismissed without prejudice, and Horne agreed to stay out of his parents’ home for a year, allowing him to return only to the exterior of the property to tend the bonsai trees, according to court documents.
Fox News’ Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.
