WASHINGTON — A jury is expected to begin deliberating Tuesday over the fate of a former sheriff’s deputy and Donald Trump supporter who pleaded guilty to assaulting one officer at the Capitol on Jan. 6 — but contends he was trying to help another. Ronald Colton McAbee of Tennessee, who was on medical leave from his law enforcement job during the attack on Jan.
Testifying on the stand last week, McAbee said that he watched Fox News and Newsmax and listened to conservative host Mark Levin's radio show in the lead-up to the Capitol attack and that belief in conspiracy theories about the 2020 election was very common in his rural farm community. He said he came to Washington, a city he had visited only on an eighth grade field trip, because he wanted to see Trump for what he thought could be the last time.