When Ronald Colton McAbee walked out the front door of a federal prison in Rochester, Minnesota, Monday night, he saw two silhouetted figures walking toward him.
It was dark. The Minnesota winter brought ice to the prison grounds.
“Is that them?” asked Chad Orm, the prison's administrative assistant. Maccabee peered again. “I think so,” he said.
At that moment, a woman's voice rang out from the darkness. “Freedom!”
“'Oh, that's them,'” McAbee said.
Sarah McAbee and her mother, Kim, came forward in freezing -18 degree weather to rescue Colt McAbee, who had been in government custody for 1,252 days on a criminal charge marred by blatant lies. . After shaking hands with Aurum, the Maccabees began to live their lives again.
“Let’s get out of here. Yeah, let’s go!
“I cried,” Colt McAbee told Blaze News on his way back to Tennessee from Minnesota. “I got a little teary-eyed and my beard froze. It was -18 there, but I mean, it was amazing. Best sight of my life.”
A roller-coaster day unfolded as McAbee was released from the front door of FMC Rochester Federal Prison, with everyone waiting to see if President Donald J. Trump would pardon him on January 6th. The curtain closed. He was one of about 250 men and women released from federal prison on January 6 after President Trump issued a clemency order.
The temperature was -18 degrees Celsius when Ronald Colton McAbee was released from FMC Rochester Prison in Minnesota on January 6th after receiving a pardon from President Donald J. Trump.Photo by Sarah McAbee.
McAbee was admonished by prison officials. “So, I was sitting in the audience and this guy came in and said, 'Hey, you leaked it. A flat-rate pardon for everyone.' I'm like, 'Okay.' Trump hasn't said anything yet. ”
Sarah McAbee visited her husband in prison early that morning. After she left, he sat in the visiting area, glued to the TV.
“I skipped dinner,” he said. “I had no intention of leaving my seat. I was watching everything and checking what he said.”
On January 20, at the beginning of his speech at the Capital One Center, President Trump announced that he would return to the White House to sign “many pardons” for the J6ers.
“The next thing I know, I'm called into the office and told to pack my things,” McAbee said.
“I waited and waited and was told they didn't have an order for me,” McAbee said. “They brought me back to the unit, so I’m walking around back and forth.
“I had never unpacked my stuff, so around 10 or 11 o'clock I finally said, 'I'm going to bed.' They would come get me,” McAbee said. “If possible, I would like to be one of those 1,500 people.” [pardons]. As soon as I lay down and put the covers on, the light came on and the door opened. 'Let's go. '”
“I was worried that they would take me away again.”
“I'm like, 'Let's get out of here.' Yeah, let's go,” McAbee said. “Oh, dude. That was great.”
The night was especially bright for Sarah. She had been campaigning for more than three years to draw attention to incidents of unfaithfulness to her husband.
“Honestly, it was just a wave of emotions,” Sarah McAbee told Blaze News. “I was relieved. I was happy. It was a roller coaster of emotions. But we had been fooled for so many years that I couldn't believe it until I saw him come out the front door. .”
One day in August 2021, McAbee was arrested by the FBI on charges of assaulting and obstructing police during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. A federal judge in Tennessee ruled that McAbee could be released pending trial, but the Justice Department obtained an emergency stay from a friendly U.S. district judge in Washington. Maccabees have not tasted freedom since then.
Colt McAbee celebrates his return to Tennessee on a flight from Minneapolis after being pardoned by President Donald J. Trump on January 6th.Photo by Sarah McAbee.
As detailed in a Blaze News investigation, federal prosecutors lied, distorted evidence and withheld material from a judge to keep McAbee behind bars. After careful review of the video evidence, it was determined that McAbee did not assault Metropolitan Police Officer Andrew Waite as alleged. He protected him and helped him return to the police line.
A jury found McAbee guilty of five criminal counts in October 2023. He had previously pleaded guilty to slapping a police officer after matching Mr McAbee's broken shoulder with a riot cane. He was sentenced to 70 months in prison on February 29, 2024.
“Watching the trial, listening to their lies, not being allowed to say anything and trying to destroy the life of a good man was the hardest thing in my life,” Sarah McAbee said in 2024 He told Blaze News in September. There were times when my hands were clenched so tightly that they turned red and sweated. ”
The first night Maccabee was free, his sleep was short-lived and restless.
“I was worried they were going to take me back again. I couldn't believe it,” Colt McAbee said. “I even woke up in the middle of the night and thought I was waking up next to my old cell. I didn't want to sleep at all.”
The role of protector that McAbee played in trying to save the life of Rosanne Boyland, 34, of Kennesaw, Georgia, on January 6th, was the result of his childhood growing up in an abusive and dysfunctional family. It was a role that was forced upon me. He became a surrogate mother and father to his younger siblings, protecting them from abuse and neglect.
Colt and Sarah McAbee's bottle of Trump Champagne (left) from November 2022 and poured in celebration on January 21, 2025. Above: Winnie the Pooh's wisdom above the Maccabees' door.Joseph M. Hanneman, Sarah McAbee
“Ever since I was a child, I had to protect myself and my siblings from a physically, mentally and emotionally abusive father,” McAbee told Judge Rudolph Contreras during his sentencing hearing. “During this time, my mother left home for the same reason, so I had no one to rely on. She left us behind, so I had to make it my mission to stand up and protect my brothers. It didn't.
“When my father snatched my brother by his hair from the couch, I jumped in to protect him,” McAbee said. “When he said things to me that no parent should ever call a child, or pushed me against a wall, or punched me, I was glad it was me and not my brother. It was an outlet for my anger.”
Maccabee took his fear of being at home and used it to excel in school, sports, and service.
“Football, soccer and cheerleading came naturally to me. I played a defensive role so I was good at those,” McAbee said. “Protect the quarterback, protect the goal, protect the girls. I took pride in my position and was hard on myself when I messed up.”
Sarah McAbee said that while he was incarcerated, his mother contacted him and tried to explain her decision to abandon him. Colt's mother, Mary, told him, “It was his choice.”
Colt McAbee told Judge Contreras that Sarah has been keeping him quiet.
On January 6, 2021, Ronald Colton McAbee was nearly hit by a stereo speaker thrown by a mob outside the Lower West Terrace Tunnel of the U.S. Capitol.Metropolitan Police Department Body Camera Video/Graphics: Blaze News
“Sarah taught me to trust myself. She's my rock,” he said. “I've been through a lot with her and she keeps me grounded. She never flinches, she never runs away from a challenge, she always pushes forward. She taught me what true loyalty and determination are.”
Sarah McAbee founded the Stand in the Gap Foundation and recently opened a new housing complex in Texas, Jan. 6 Road Home, that houses some J6ers to help them transition back into society from prison. A $40,000 grant was awarded to assist with construction.
The Maccabees expressed their desire to help enact reforms that would prevent the FBI and Justice Department from being further weaponized as tools to punish President Trump's supporters.
“I believe history will be written in a way America has never seen before,” Sarah McAbee said.
The Maccabees returned to their home in Tennessee on January 21st. While Colt was away for Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas and other holidays, he planned to uncork a bottle of Trump Champagne that Sarah kept in her window.
As he boarded his flight back to Tennessee, Colt McAbee was asked what January 20th meant to him. He didn't hesitate. “Apart from the wedding, it was the best day of my life.”
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