A machete-wielding madman arrested before Trump’s visit to the Capitol has been raving about him online
The 44-year-old is charged with trying to smuggle with a machete and other knives at the US Capitol on the same day that President-elect Donald Trump went to pay his respects while the late former President Jimmy Carter appeared to have posted a series of anti-Trump posts on social media.
Mel J. Horne faces multiple charges of carrying a dangerous weapon after he tried to enter the Capitol Visitor Center with a machete, two folding knives and a box cutter, according to court documents. However, it was released just days before inauguration day.
An account on X under his name and linked to an identifier linked to his phone number found in court documents shows he has made several anti-Trump posts in recent days.
The account referred to both President-elect and billionaire Elon Musk as “s—bags” while responding to a Trump parody account that asked, “Do you like Elon Musk?”
SUSPECT IN US CAPITOL MACHINE DRIVER FREED PRIOR TO TRIAL DAYS AHEAD OF TRUMP’S INAUGURATION
Mel Horne (Mel Horne/Instagram)
Another post on New Year’s Eve claimed that the two “behave as consistent enemies of the state”. On December 9, the bill read “F— them!”
Earlier in the day, the account again referred to Trump as “the enemy” but shared a prayerful message.
“I’m praying for all of us,” the post said. “Regardless of how much of an enemy he is to the American people, he is our president-elect, so I will definitely pray for his health and safety, and that Jesus can really touch his heart and show him the way. “
Another post, in response to a tweet about a Capitol Police officer who shot a protester on January 6th Ashley Babbitthe called for the prosecution of Trump.
“Trump should be tried for gathering these people and sending them there…” he wrote and added a couple of emojis. – He sent that girl to die.
Horne’s mother previously accused him of falling into drugs and psychosis and asked the court to remove him from her home and order him to undergo mental health treatment.
US Capitol Police stopped a man from entering the Capitol at a security checkpoint after they allegedly found a machete and three knives in his bag. (US Capitol Police)
Other posts included expletives directed at Tulsi Gabbard, the former congresswoman and Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Vice President-elect JD Vance and the recently released Daniel Penny, who was controversially charged in a subway choking case after a man threatened to kill another passenger.
Capitol Police declined to comment on the tweets.
“To protect our cases, we cannot discuss open investigations,” a spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Mel Horne (Mel Horne/Instagram)
Horne allegedly told Capitol Police that the bladed weapon was a landscaping tool after placing it in an X-ray tray at the magnetometer screening point at the Capitol Visitor Center, according to the affidavit.
Officers noted that there was more than 6 inches of snow on the ground and that the city had declared a snow emergency a few days earlier, then asked him when his last landscaping job was.
Read the police affidavit:
“[Horne] advised … that he was not coming from or going to a landscaping job,” the affidavit continued. “[Horne] he stated that he is homeless, and that he carries these things everywhere he travels.”
Trump, who attended Carter’s memorial the same day Horne allegedly tried to sneak the gun, will be inaugurated for his second term on January 20.
DC Supreme Court a judge granted Horne parole pending trial, court records show. Details of his release conditions were not immediately available to the public.
Another man, Adrian Hinton, was also arrested that day after allegedly trying to set fire to a vehicle near the Grant Memorial. He is due in court later this week.
Horne’s arrest report identifies him as a prior felon, although the nature of his prior conviction was not immediately clear. He was previously incarcerated in 2019, but the Department of Corrections told Fox News Digital it was not authorized to release records about the case. Court records show that in 2004 he faced a number of misdemeanor charges.
A plow clears snow outside the US Capitol on January 6, 2025. Horne reportedly told police that the machete they allegedly found was one of his landscaping tools. They noticed that the town had just had a snow storm. (Reuters/Marko Đurica)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“My son lives in our house (rent-free) and within the past year has started using a substance to get high or change his mind,” his mother, Brenda Horne, said in the civil suit. “Now he is becoming violent and we are afraid and want him removed from our home.”
She asked a judge to order his removal from her property and force him to undergo mental health treatment.
The case was eventually dismissed without prejudice and Horne agreed to stay out of his parents’ home for a year, with the caveat that he could only return to the outside of the property to tend to his bonsai trees, according to court documents.
Fox News’ Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.
