DOJ releases footage of ‘QAnon Shaman’ Jacob Chansley
Rachel Schilke
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The Justice Department released additional footage of Jacob Anthony Chansley, known as the “QAnon Shaman,” in response to Fox News host Tucker Carlson showing select footage clips of Chansley’s time in the Capitol on TV.
Politico senior legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney announced the footage’s release on Twitter on Monday. The footage was used in Chansley’s criminal proceedings in 2021.
PROSECUTORS DISPUTE TUCKER CARLSON’S DEPICTION OF QANON SHAMAN IN JAN. 6 FOOTAGE
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1635345427284238343
Since the release of Jan. 6 footage from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to Carlson, several people, including Twitter CEO Elon Musk, have called for Chansley’s release. The footage showed the “shaman” telling people to “go home” and “obey our president.”
Musk said in a Twitter thread that other footage of the Capitol riot showed Chansley “calmly walking in the Capitol building” while being escorted by Capitol officers.
In an interview with CBS, Chansley said he stopped people from stealing items from the Capitol and that people’s presence in the Capitol was “acceptable” because Capitol officers had waved them in.
However, Justice Department officials said Carlson’s televised footage showed only four minutes of Chansley’s one hour in the Capitol and omitted the part when Chansley refused to be escorted out by officers.
Chansley was “not some passive, chaperoned observer of events for the roughly hour that he was unlawfully inside the Capitol,” prosecutors said.
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Chansley was indicted on Jan. 11, 2021, after he and thousands of supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. They vandalized the building and assaulted Capitol Police officers.
Chansley pleaded not guilty to civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and many other charges. He was sentenced on Nov. 17, 2021, to 41 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release and $2,000 in restitution.