A federal judge compared the January 6 mentality to 'Nazi Germany' at the sentencing of a Capitol rioter

• Judge Reggie Walton previously said Trump cares only about power — not democracy.
• Walton made the comment as he sentenced a Capitol rioter who blamed Trump for January 6.

A federal judge on Friday appeared to draw a comparison between Nazi Germany and the period leading up to January 6, 2021 — in which former President Donald Trump and his allies falsely claimed the election had been stolen — saying that both involved large swaths of the public being swayed by a "demagogue."

Judge Reggie Walton made the remark at the sentencing of Dustin Thompson, a Capitol rioter who blamed Trump for his involvement in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. As he sentenced Thompson to 3 years in prison, Walton said he was struck that the college-educated Capitol rioter fell into a self-described "rabbit hole" of conspiracy theories and came to believe false claims — spread by Trump and his political allies — that the 2020 election had been stolen.

"It makes for a very difficult situation because I'm not unsympathetic to people being radicalized to engage in abhorrent behavior. We saw it happen in Nazi Germany — a very educated, intelligent population was able to be swayed to engage in the atrocities that took place in Germany based upon a demagogue," Walton said.

"It seems to me you bought into that same type of mentality," the judge added, before saying it was "utterly scary" that many are "still buying a lie."

It was not the first time in Thompson's case that Walton rebuked Trump over his efforts to lead supports into believing the 2020 election was stolen. In April, shortly after a jury found Thompson guilty, Walton expressed concerns about the future of American democracy and had harsh words for Trump.

"I think our democracy is in trouble because, unfortunately, we have charlatans like our former president, who doesn't, in my view, really care about democracy but only about power," Walton said. "And as a result of that, it's tearing this country apart."

Ahead of Friday's sentencing hearing, federal prosecutors had recommended that Thompson receive a prison term of 70 months — or 5 years and 10 months — for obstructing a congressional proceeding and stealing a coat tree and bottle of bourbon from a Senate office on January 6. The jury convicted Thompson after just hours of deliberation in a trial that tested a defense strategy of connecting the mayhem of January 6 to Trump's incendiary rhetoric at a rally immediately before the Capitol attack.

Thompson took the stand to testify in his own defense and told jurors he felt he was following "presidential orders" on January 6. At another point in his testimony, Thompson said he stole a coat tree from the Senate parliamentarian's office to keep it from being used against police — a claim belied by the evidence presented at trial, including a message in which his friend described it as a "trophy."

Following Thompson's conviction, Walton and federal prosecutors accused him of lacking candor while testifying under oath.

"You must have thought the people sitting in the jury were fools," Walton said Friday.

Earlier in the hearing, prosecutor William Dreher said Thompson disrespected the jury and the court with his testimony regarding his motive for taking the coat tree. "It is, frankly, an insult," Dreher added, to the police officers who were injured while protecting the Capitol against the pro-Trump mob on January 6.

Dreher noted that Thompson wore a bulletproof vest while inside the Capitol, undercutting his claim that he had been swept up in the January 6 attack and was following the crowd. Pressing for a nearly 6-year prison term, Dreher argued that judges commonly hand down similar sentences for charges that receive less public attention, such as drug possession.

But Thompson's case, he said, involves "one of the most disgraceful events in the history of this country."

Thompson's defense lawyer recommended that Walton hand down a year-long sentence. The lawyer, Andrew Stewart, said Thompson had met with the House committee investigating the January 6 attack.

During the interview with the House January 6 committee, Thompson told the panel that the planners behind the Trump rally immediately preceding the Capitol attack would need to be held accountable, Stewart said.

In his own remarks to Walton, Thompson said he was "deeply ashamed" and apologized to the Capitol Police and "everyone" in the United States.

"I love America," Thompson said, "and I'm ashamed of my actions on that day."