Despite Taylor’s “good traits and adherence” to his probation terms — which include securing permission from a probation officer or the federal court before leaving the Central District of California — Lamberth said those considerations do not apply to his request.

“To attend the Presidential Inauguration, which celebrates and honors the peaceful transfer of power, is an immense privilege,” the judge wrote.

“It would not be appropriate for the Court to grant permission to attend such a hallowed event to someone who carried weapons and threatened police officers in an attempt to thwart the last Inauguration, and who openly glorified ‘[i]nsurrection’ against the United States,” he added.

Taylor was indicted on six counts, including multiple felony charges, for his participation in the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021, during which he joined other rioters in echoing Trump’s false claims that his loss in the 2020 presidential election was due to stolen votes and “corruption.”

In April 2023 he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding with all other charges against him dismissed as part of a plea agreement. In return, Taylor agreed to assist the Justice Department in its prosecutions of fellow “Three-Percenter” militia members and was sentenced last year to 36 months’ probation with no prison time.

Not only was this below the range prescribed by sentencing guidelines, “but also considerably below the sentences his co-defendants ultimately received,” Lamberth noted.

Those co-defendants included Alan Hostetter, a retired California police chief identified by prosecutors as a key member of the “California Patriots-DC Brigade” who “advocated the execution of his perceived political enemies” prior to the Jan. 6 riot. He received a sentence of 135 months imprisonment.

Lamberth noted Taylor “gave a backpack full of weapons, including ‘a knife, a stun baton, two hatchets, and carbon fiber knuckle gloves'” to Hostetter to take to Washington, “believing that he could not bring them himself by plane, and actively encouraged others to bring weapons and armor to the Capitol as well.”

Taylor himself brought a knife and plate carrier vest to the Capitol and carried a backpack containing a hatchet and stun baton. During the riots he “pushed past police barricades, encouraged fellow rioters to push against a police line where officers were being visibly assaulted, joined the push himself, and repeatedly threatened the police protecting the Upper West Terrace that it was their ‘last chance’ to ‘stand down’ and abandon their position.”

“While he did not personally assault law enforcement officers, he did threaten them and encourage other rioters who were actively assaulting them,” Lamberth wrote.