Jacob Anthony Chansley aka Jake Angeli, the QAnon Shamon that became the defining face of the Capitol protests that stormed Washington D.C. in January, is currently in custody in Arizona, facing charges pertaining to the January 6th riots.
The QAnon Shaman is facing felony charges for interfering with law enforcement during civil disorder, obstruction of Congress, and a number of misdemeanour counts. He was arrested in Arizona on January 9th and has been in custody since.
As Deadline report On Friday, March 5th, Chansley’s lawyer Al Watkins appeared in court, in an appearance that saw him argue the defence of his client by referencing Robert Zemeckis’ 1994 film Forrest Gump. Watkins claimed his client had been invited to the Capitol by former-president Donald Trump, “like Forrest Gump”.
For context, in Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks’ titular character was invited to White House by Richard Nixon as part of the US Ping Pong Team. Chansley’s attorney argued that the QAnon shaman was not a “man of violence” and that he and the others that stormed the Capitol “genuinely believed in the truth of what was being asserted by the highest hired hand in the land, the president”.
Prosecutors argued that there is no reality in which Chansley could have believed he was being invited into the capital, citing the broken windows, alarms in the building and an eerie note he left at the vice president’s desk reading, “It’s only a matter of time. Justice is coming.”
A ruling has not yet been given on Chansley’s request for release.
During his first public interview since the January 9th riots, the QAnon Shaman told 60 Minutes+ correspondent Laurie Segall that he doesn’t believe his actions were an attack on America.
“No, they were not, ma’am. My actions were not an attack on this country. That is incorrect. That is inaccurate, entirely,” he said before launching into a bizarre rant about shamanism.
“Well, I sang a song. And that’s a part of shamanism. It’s about– creating positive vibrations in a sacred chamber. I also stopped people from stealing and vandalizing that sacred space, the Senate,” he continued.
“Okay? I actually stopped somebody from stealing muffins out of the– out of the break room. And I also said a prayer in that sacred chamber. Because it was my intention to bring divinity, and to bring God back into the Senate.”
