Judge slams lawyers for slowing jailed 1/6 defendant’s case

A federal judge in Washington is threatening to report two attorneys for possible disciplinary action for delaying the trial of a man waiting in jail on charges that he assaulted police officers during the Capitol riot. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, questioned in court papers filed Thursday whether attorney Joseph McBride was being sincere when he said last summer that he needed to push Christopher Quaglin’s October trial; McBride said he has chronic Lyme disease and treatment and recovery would take two to three months. At the same time, the judge noted that McBride — who represents several Jan. 6 defendants — continued to do media interviews and spoke in October to a Republican county committee about his fight for the “January 6 political prisoners.” In November, McBride tweeted a picture of himself on the beach at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and another photo inside Trump’s 2024 campaign announcement party, McFadden wrote. McBride told the judge that Gross would take over Quaglin’s case, saying the switch wouldn’t prejudice the defendant and that the other attorney “knows Quaglin’s case well.” Soon after taking over the case, however, Gross told McFadden he planned to ask for the trial to be pushed again. McFadden wrote that Gross told the judge “that he does not practice criminal law and that he is not competent” to be Quaglin’s lead attorney at trial in just a few weeks.