More news continues to trickle in following the violent insurrection on Capitol Hill led by a Trump-loving MAGA mob last week. By now, a handful of riot leaders have been identified by the FBI and local law enforcement agencies, and they’re currently sitting in jail on a litany of charges. The most famous among them? The QAnon Shaman, whose real name is Jacob Chansley, though he also goes by Jake Angeli. If you’re having trouble placing him, he’s the guy cosplaying in a “Chewbacca bikini,” carrying a spear, wearing fur and horns, and proudly claiming he was sent by “Q,” a mysterious figure fueling conspiracy theories about secret sex-trafficking rings led by the most elite, famous members of society.
He’s also the criminal complaining about the lack of organic options in prison — he’s refused to eat anything but organic meals while awaiting a detention hearing in Phoenix, Arizona. And now, his lawyer is all but demanding that President Trump issue the Shaman and his fellow QAnon groupies a pardon for the events that happened on Capitol Hill last week — riots that left five dead including an on-duty police officer.
Speaking to Chris Cuomo on CNN, Chansley’s attorney Al Watkins claimed his client didn’t break into the Capitol but was instead let in by police officers and was encouraged to march on Congress by Trump himself.
“He loved Trump. Every word, he listens to him,” Watkins told CNN. “We all have to understand that the words that were spoken by the president meant something, not just to my client. They meant something to a lot of people.”
Video taken at a MAGA rally, which took place just a few hours before Congress was set to ratify the Electoral College vote that would proclaim Joe Biden the next president of the United States, shows Trump encouraging his followers to march on the Capitol, saying, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore. You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”
Chansley and the rest of the Trump supporters there interpreted that as an order from the president to storm Congress with the intention of stopping the vote. Now that many of them have been rightfully arrested for their criminal actions, Watkins believes Trump owes them some loyalty.
“He has an obligation to them. He has an obligation to our nation,” Watkins said before adding he hoped Trump might consider pardoning his client before leaving office. Naturally, Cuomo wasn’t having it and calling the entire situation absurd, questioning why Chansley and other QAnon subscribers believe all these nonsense conspiracy theories. Watkins had an answer for that too, comparing QAnon and Trump supporters to the Jonestown Cult members who committed mass suicide in the ’70s.
“You know the only thing different here?” Watkins said. “There’s no Kool-Aid.”
Really, there’s no better burn than that. We won’t even try. Watch the entire exchange above.