“QAnon Shaman” flips against Trump
Jason Chansley, better known as “QAnon Shaman,” says that he is no longer “horribly smitten” with former President Donald Trump and is willing to testify against him in the upcoming impeachment trial.
Jason Chansley, also known as Jake Angeli, stood out among the rioters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6. He was shirtless and dressed in furs that made him look like a Viking and pictured standing in the halls of Congress.
Speaking to the AP, Chansley’s lawyer Albert Watkins said that he did not speak to any member of the Senate since announcing his offer to have Chansley testify at Trump’s trial, which is scheduled to begin on the week of Feb. 8. Watkins says that Senators needed to hear the voice of someone who was incited by Trump.
Describing his client as “horribly smitten” by the former president, but now feels let down after Trump refused to grant Chansley and other rioters who participated in the raid a pardon. “He felt like he was betrayed by the President,” Watkins said.
Chansley was indicted earlier this month on six counts including violent entry and disorderly conduct and obstructing an official proceeding. He’s scheduled for arraignment on Friday afternoon in Washington DC.
Prosecutors allege that Chansley went to the Capitol carrying a US flag attached to a wooden pole, topped with a spear, and ignored an officer’s commands to leave. Prosecutors claim that Chansley wrote a threatening note to former Vice President Mike Pence and left it on the dais of the Senate chambers.
“It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming,” he allegedly wrote.
Prosecutors alleged that Chansley “demonstrated scattered and fanciful thoughts, and is unable to appreciate reality.”
Speaking to Vice News earlier this month, Chansley told the publication that he was “not worried at all” about the investigation. “I’m quite proud of my participation,” Chansley said in his interview. “I’d like to think I was an observer of history being made right in front of me.”
Watkins, who has also represented the St. Louis gun couple said in a statement to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that his client intends to testify on “whether the words of former President Trump were understood by Mr. Chansley to be nothing short of an invitation to go to the Capitol with the President to ‘fight like hell.’”
“If the pending Article of Impeachment has merit, the voice of Mr. Chansley, and the voice of others in like position [sic], must be heard and believed,” Watkins said to the Post-Dispatch.
It is unclear if any witnesses will be called in Trump’s second impeachment trial. In his previous trial, the Republican Senate Majority blocked witness testimony. It is unclear whether they will have the numbers to do so this time due to the majority being held by the Democrats.
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