The 44-year-old man is suspected of trying to smuggle machete and other knives entered the US Capitol on the same day that newly elected President Donald Trump went to pay his respects as late former President Jimmy Carter lay in state, appears to have made a series of anti-Trump posts on social media.
According to court documents, Mel J. Horne faces multiple charges of carrying a dangerous weapon after he tried to enter the Capitol Visitor Center with a machete, two pocket knives and a box cutter. Yet he was released just days before Inauguration Day.
An account on
The account referred to both the newly elected president and billionaire Elon Musk as “s—bags” while responding to a Trump parody account that asked, “Do you like Elon Musk?”
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Mel Horn (Mel Horne/Instagram)
Another message on New Year’s Eve claimed that the two men “act as consistent enemies of the state.” On December 9, the account posted “F— them!”
Earlier in the day, Trump was again called an “enemy” but a prayerful message was shared.
“Praying for all of us,” the message reads. “He is, no matter how much of an enemy of the American people he really is, our President-elect, so I will certainly be praying for his health, well-being and safety, and that Jesus is actually able to touch his heart and show him the way. “
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Another post, in response to a tweet about the Capitol Police officer who shot a protester on January 6 Ashley Babbittcalled for Trump to be prosecuted.
“Trump should be brought to justice for rounding up those people and sending them there…,” he wrote, adding a few emojis. “He sent that girl to die.”
Horne’s mother previously accused him of drug use and psychosis and asked a court to have him removed from her home and ordered to undergo mental health treatment.
US Capitol Police stopped a man from entering the Capitol at a security checkpoint after they reportedly found a machete and three knives in his bag. (US Capitol Police)
Other messages included invective directed at Tulsi Gabbard, a former congressman and Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, newly elected Vice President J.D. Vance, and the recently acquitted Daniel Penny, who was controversially charged in a subway chokehold case after a man threatened to kill other passengers.
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Capitol Police declined to comment on the tweets.
“To protect our business, we cannot discuss open investigations,” a spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Mel Horn (Mel Horne/Instagram)
According to an affidavit, Horne allegedly told Capitol Police that the bladed weapons were landscaping tools after they were placed in the X-ray bin at a magnetometer screening point in the Capitol Visitor Center.
Officers noted that there was more than 6 inches of snow on the ground and that the city had declared a snow emergency days earlier. Then they asked him when his last job in the garden had been.
Read the police declaration:
“(Horne) advised… that he was not from or headed for a horticultural job,” the affidavit continued. “(Horne) stated that he was homeless and that he takes this stuff everywhere.”
Trump, who attended the Carter Memorial on the same day Horne reportedly tried to force his way into arms, will be inaugurated for his second term on January 20.
A DC Superior Court The judge released Horne on parole pending trial, court records show. Details of his release terms were not immediately publicly available.
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 to appear 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 previously served time in prison in 2019, but the Department of Corrections told Fox News Digital it was not authorized to release data on that case. Court records show he faced a number of misdemeanor charges in 2004.
A crew clears snow in front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2025. Horne reportedly told police that the machete they allegedly found was one of his gardening tools. They noted that the town had just had a snowstorm. (Reuters/Marko Djurica)
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“My son lives in our house (rent free) and within the past year has started using substances to get high or change his mind,” his mother, Brenda Horne, alleged in a civil complaint. “Now he is becoming violent, and we are scared and want him removed from our home.”
She asked the judge to order his removal from her property and commit him to mental health treatment.
The case was ultimately dismissed without prejudice and Horne agreed to stay away from his parents’ home for a year, with the caveat that he could only return to the outside of the property to care for his bonsai trees, court documents show .
Julia Bonavita of Fox News contributed to this report.
