Few sights summed up the chaos and wild abandon of the January 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob like the image of a shirtless, horn-wearing, spear-carrying, face-painted man roaming the halls that the nation does its business in as members of Congress huddled for safety.
The man behind that face paint and beneath the horns is Jacob Chansley, a figure who became a common sight at pro-Trump rallies in recent years and known alternately as the “QAnon Shaman” or “Q Shaman,” and he’s currently under arrest.
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Like more than 160 others, Chansley faces a slew of charges for his role in the Capitol attack.
Chansley, who was taken into custody less than a week after the attack, faces federal charges of civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, and demonstrating in a Capitol building, among other charges, AP News reported. At the time of this writing, Chansley has yet to be arraigned on those charges.
Authorities say that while he was in the Capitol, Chansley sat in the Senate seat of then-Vice President Pence and left a note reading “It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming,” NY Daily News reported.
According to his lawyer, Chansley had held out hope that former President Trump would pardon those charges before leaving office, but he became disillusioned when the pardon failed to materialize.
Saying his client had been “horrendously smitten” with Trump, Albert Watkins told AP News that Chansley “felt like he was betrayed by the president.”
He, as well as several others arrested in the attack, have said that they were at the Capitol that day “at the request of the president that all ‘patriots’ come to D.C. on January 6,” according to court records, AP News reported.
That lack of a pardon and feeling of betrayal has apparently led Chansley to change his tune.
Watkins told AP News that his client was now willing to testify at Trump’s impeachment trial before the Senate, saying that senators should hear from someone incited by the president’s words. However, while the trial is scheduled to start in just over a week, no one from either side of the impeachment trial has reached out to Watkins for Chansley’s testimony.
While indeed Trump’s words may come back to haunt him at his impeachment trial, Chansley’s testimony may not be highly sought after.
Investigators have not described Chansley in glowing terms. Although Chansley insisted that the note he left for Pence was not intended to be a threat, he did go on a “lengthy diatribe describing current and past United States political leaders as infiltrators,” People reported.
The investigators also described Chansley as a “self-proclaimed leader of the QAnon,” a drug user, and a man who “demonstrates scattered and fanciful thoughts, and is unable to appreciate reality. He is the shaman of a dangerous extremist group, putting his beliefs into action by attempting to violently overthrow the United States government.”
