Machete maniac arrested before Trump visits Capitol and rants about him online

The 44-year-old man is accused of trying to smuggle machetes and other knives into the U.S. Capitol on the same day President-elect Donald Trump visited to pay his respects to the body of late former President Jimmy Carter, seemingly setting off a series of events on social media anti-Trump posts on .

Mel J. Horne faces multiple charges of carrying a dangerous weapon after trying to enter the Capitol Visitor Center with a machete, two folding knives and a utility knife, court documents show. However, he was released days before Inauguration Day.

Court documents found that the X account in his name was linked to his phone number, showing that he had made multiple anti-Trump posts in recent days.

The account called President-elect and billionaire Elon Musk a “jerk,” while responding to a Trump parody account with “Do you like Elon Musk?”

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Another post on New Year’s Eve claimed the two men “are consistent enemies of the state.” On Dec. 9, the account posted “F–em!”

Earlier in the day, the account again called Trump an “enemy” but shared a prayerful message.

“I pray for all of us,” the post read. “No matter how much he is an enemy of the American people, he is our president-elect, so I will be sure to pray for his health and safety and that Jesus will be touched. His heart shows him the way.”

Jimmy Carter Memorial: Suspect charged in Capitol security breach during Trump visit identified

Another post responded to a tweet from the Capitol Police officer who shot protester Ashley Babbitt on January 6, calling for Trump to be prosecuted.

“Trump should be put on trial for calling these people and sending them there…” he wrote, adding two emojis. “He sent that girl to die.”

Horn’s mother previously accused him of drug and mental illness and asked the court to remove him from the home and order him to undergo mental health treatment.

U.S. 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. (U.S. Capitol Police)

Other posts included comments targeting Tulsi Gabbard, the former congresswoman and Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominee for secretary of health and human services. .), Vice President-elect JD Vance and, most recently, the acquittal of Daniel Penny, who was controversially charged in a subway chokehold case in which a man threatened to kill other passengers .

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Capitol Police declined to comment on the tweets.

“To protect our case, we cannot discuss a public investigation,” a spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

Melhorn (Mellhorn/Instagram)

Horne allegedly told Capitol Police the bladed weapons were landscaping tools after placing them in an X-ray tray at a magnetometer screening site at the Capitol Visitor Center, according to an affidavit.

Noting that there were more than 6 inches of snow on the ground and that the city had declared a snow emergency days earlier, officials asked him when he had last done landscaping work.

read police Affidavit:

“[Horne] “He told … he was not coming from or on his way to a landscaping job,” the affidavit continued.[Horne] Claiming he was homeless and that he took the items with him wherever he went.

Police arrested a man after he tried to enter the U.S. Capitol carrying three machetes hours before Trump arrived

On the same day that Horn allegedly attempted to smuggle the weapon, Trump was attending the Carter Memorial, where he will be inaugurated for his second term on January 20.

A D.C. Superior Court judge granted Horn a conditional discharge while awaiting trial, court records show. Specific details of the terms of his release were not immediately made public.

Another man, Adrian Hinton, was also arrested that day on suspicion of trying to burn a car near the Grant Memorial. He is due to appear in court later this week.

Horn’s arrest report identifies him as a felon, although the nature of his prior convictions is unclear. He was jailed in 2019, but the Department of Corrections told Fox News Digital it did not have the authority to release records from the case. Court records show he faced multiple misdemeanor charges in 2004.

A plow clears snow in front of the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2025. They noticed that the city had just been hit by a snowstorm. (Reuters/Marco Giurica)

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“My son, who lives in our house (rent-free), last year began using a substance to get high or change his mind,” his mother, Brenda Horne, claimed in a civil complaint. “Now he is becoming more and more violent and we are scared and want him out of our home.”

She asked a judge to order him removed from her property and force him to receive mental health treatment.

The case was ultimately dismissed without prejudice, and Horn agreed to leave his parents’ home for a year, with the caveat that he could only return to the exterior of the property to care for his bonsai trees, according to court documents.

Fox News’ Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.