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Christopher Joseph Quaglin of North Brunswick was arrested on Wednesday on charges of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers or employees, civil disorder and obstruction of official proceeding.
Quaglin is accused of organizing and leading the assault on the Capitol and its police officers, including spraying a chemical irritant at those trying to stop the rioters, authorities said.
Quaglin appeared virtually in federal court in Trenton on Wednesday afternoon, during a which a judge decided to release him on house arrest.
Dressed in a “Make America Great Again” shirt, a black helmet and a gas mask while armed with chemical spray, federal authorities say multiple videos show Quaglin as one of the aggressors in attempting to breach the Capitol.
Quaglin was videotaped allegedly assaulting multiple officers who were holding off the rioters. After the attempted insurrection, Quaglin bragged about his role in it on social media, posting that he was “in the middle of it” and was sure he was “going to make the news,” according to the criminal complaint.
At 1:36 p.m. on Jan. 6, video shows Quaglin approach the police barrier outside the building and start screaming at them, according to the complaint.
“You don’t want this fight,” he can heard yelling. “You do not want this f------ fight. You are on the wrong f------ side. You’re going to bring a f------ pistol, I’m going to bring a f------ cannon. You wait! You wait! You wait! Stay there like a f------ sheep!”
Quaglin can been seen pushing the fence as officers stand their ground, the complaint says. Video shows Quaglin shoving at least two Capitol police officers as he verbally berates them.
Less than an hour later, Quaglin can been seen with other rioters ripping down one of the barriers being used to keep the crowd out of the Capitol, documents said. At one point, Quaglin pushes a Capitol officer down, according to the complaint.
Quaglin is seen entering the tunnel at the Lower West Terrace and trying to push his way past police officers guarding the door, according to the complaint.
He is captured on video “attacking officers with a stolen riot shield and spraying them with a chemical irritant,” according to the federal complaint. Quaglin allegedly sprays one officer, who did not have a face shield or gas mask, authorities said.
Another video in the tunnel shows Quaglin “using a stolen shield to push up against law enforcement officers and then hitting that same (officer) in the side of the neck and face,” the complaint says.
Quaglin, who works as an electrician, was identified by several anonymous tipsters, who sent authorities videos of Quaglin, who identified himself on Facebook as “Chris Trump,” broadcasting live from the Capitol on Jan. 6. Photos of him show him wearing a helmet camera.
“Trump is speaking and everyone is walking there,” Quaglin says in one of the videos, according to the complaint. “And I am walking there. And I am ready (while displaying a gas mask) We will see how it goes.”
When he returned to his hotel — where prosecutors say he booked six rooms and recruited others to join him in Washington, D.C. — Quaglin posted a video calling it a great time.
“When you guys see the footage, I was in the red, white and blue uhh hoodie and the black helmet,” Quaglin said, according to the complaint.
After the general election last November, he’d posted on social media about how he was “going to war,” authorities said. “Stand back. Stand by,” Quaglin said on Nov. 6, quoting former President Donald Trump.
That same say day, he wrote to a person on Facebook: “Looking forward to a war,” according to the complaint.
Quaglin joins more than a dozen people facing federal charges for breaching the government building.
During a Zoom hearing in U.S. District Court in Trenton on Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Zahid N. Quaraishi decided to release Quaglin to home detention on a bond signed by his wife.
Defense attorney Carlos Diaz-Cobo portrayed Quaglin as a church-going father of an 8-week-old child and electrician for 15 years who had a job interview Wednesday before his arrest, according to NJ Advance Media. He’s been unemployed since November due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the online court hearing, Quaglin’s wife, Moira, teared up while holding and comforting their newborn baby, NJ.com reported.
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