Jan. 6 rioter who attacked police officers attacks Trump-appointed judge after 12-year prison sentence

WASHINGTON – A Donald Trump supporter who attacked officers during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol while wearing a sweatshirt that read “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” was sentenced Friday to 12 years in a federal prison, attacking the Trump-appointed judge who handed down the sentence.

Federal prosecutors had called for a 14-year prison sentence for Christopher Quaglin. The man from New Jersey was one of the most violent rioters on January 6 and “brutally attacked numerous police officers” after calling for a “civil war” and boasting that armed patriots were storming the Capitol.

“On at least a dozen occasions, Quaglin confronted officers face to face, yelled at them, pushed them with outstretched arms, punched, yelled at and slapped them, pushed bike racks into officers, and even choked an officer to the ground,” prosecutors wrote.

Quaglin gave a lengthy statement at the sentencing and sharply attacked Judge Trevor McFadden after imposing the 12-year prison sentence.

“You are Trump’s worst mistake of 2016,” Quaglin told McFadden, who was appointed by Trump in 2017.

Quaglin’s 12-year sentence is among the longest handed down to rioters in the nearly three years since the Capitol attack. Federal prosecutors have charged more than 1,400 people and secured over 1,000 convictions. While hundreds of defendants received suspended sentences, more than 500 were sentenced to terms ranging from a few days behind bars to 22 years in a federal prison.

McFadden said Quaglin, an electrician by trade, attacked his “fellow Americans in the working class” on January 6 while wearing the “stars and stripes” of the United States.

“What a scandal,” said McFadden. “What a disgrace.”

McFadden said it was clear that, unlike some Jan. 6 rioters who got carried away by the situation, Quaglin had been planning this day for some time and had made efforts to bring equipment to the Capitol to support his desire to engage in “civil war.” He said Quaglin had become a propagandist for the Jan. 6 defendants, spreading lies about the attack and claiming it was mostly peaceful, even though Quaglin knew through his own personal actions that was not the case.

“They were anything but peaceful that day,” McFadden said. “They are a threat to our society.”