Jacob Chansley, symbol of the assault on the Capitol, says he will buy weapons after Trump’s pardon

Jacob Chansley, also known as the QAnon shaman, who became a symbol of the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol when he was photographed wearing a horned helmet, his face painted and his chest exposed, said Monday that he is going to buy some weapons after being pardoned by the president of the United States, Donald Trump.

“I JUST GOT THE NEWS FROM MY LAWYER… I HAVE A PARDON, BABY! “THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP!!!” he tweeted on X, the social network owned by Elon Musk. “NOW I’M GOING TO BUY SOME FUCKING GUNS!!! I LOVE THIS COUNTRY! GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!! Those from January 6 are being freed and justice has arrived… Everything done in the dark will come to light!” he added.

Trump granted a general pardon to the more than 1,500 convicted, prosecuted and investigated for the assault on the Capitol. 14 of them had their prison sentences commuted to a sentence already served. To the rest, he granted full and unconditional forgiveness for their actions that day.

Among those who have received pardons is Chansley, who was sentenced in November 2021 to 41 months in prison and had already been released in May 2023. In September 2021, Chansley pleaded guilty to felony obstruction of an official proceeding in a plea agreement that allowed the dismissal of five other charges against him. The Supreme Court of the United States, with a conservative majority, later ruled in the case of another defendant that this type of crime was not applicable to the assault on the Capitol.

After the pardon, Chansley gave an interview to the BBC in which the presenter asked him if he had entered the Capitol to try to annul the elections in which Joe Biden had won against Donald Trump. “I didn’t enter the building for that reason. And the fact that you still think I did it just shows how distorted the media lens is,” he replied.

The interviewer then asked him about his guilty plea in which he admitted that he had attempted to obstruct an official procedure (the procedure was the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election). Chansley responded by citing the Supreme Court ruling.

The interviewer asked him about his reaction to being pardoned by Trump. “I got the news from my lawyer when I was at the gym and I went out into the street and screamed freedom at the top of my lungs and then gave a good Native American battle cry,” he said.

When asked if he regretted his actions, he answered angrily: “Oh, yes? I want you to think about something. The mockers in the media and the Government demonized me. They made me a social outcast. They attached things to me like QAnon, conspiracy theorist, white supremacist, insurrectionist, racist, homophobe, terrorist. They attached all these labels to me, my image, and then they imprisoned me for 27 months, ten and a half in solitary confinement. And then they released me into the public as a social outcast with no ability to own a firearm. So I can never really carry a gun if there’s a shooting. I always have to bring a knife to a gunfight. And you realize how bad that is, right?”

Pardons and commutations

Trump granted a general pardon to all those involved in the assault on the Capitol. Those who received a full pardon are freed from criminal charges and have the possibility of purchasing a weapon. Among the 14 cases in which the pardon resulted in a commutation of sentence is that of the leader of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes. Rhodes, sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracy and other crimes, appeared at the Capitol on Wednesday, the day after being released from prison thanks to the commutation of his sentence.

He defended his actions that day and took no responsibility for the violent siege that stopped the certification of the 2020 election. “I didn’t direct anything. “So why should I feel responsible for that?” Rhodes said, according to the Associated Press.

Rhodes stopped at a Dunkin Donuts inside the House Office Building in the Capitol complex before delivering a lengthy defense of himself and his actions. Wearing a Trump 2020 hat, he said he would pressure Trump to grant him a full pardon. “I think all of us should be forgiven,” he said.

Rhodes’ surprise visit also came on the same day that Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson reactivated a special committee to investigate the riot, an effort to defend Trump’s actions that day and dispute the work of the House. commission of the assault on the Capitol. Johnson said he was not going to question Trump’s decision to pardon the rioters: “We believe in redemption, we believe in second chances,” he said.