With Trump officially out of office and the hope of a presidential pardon now firmly lodged in the trash, some of his most loyal supporters are beginning to turn on him. Chief among them is Jacob Chansley, the infamous QAnon Shaman, who became the de facto face of the insurrection on Capitol Hill this month thanks to his signature get-up.
Chansley, like hundreds of other members of the violent MAGA mob that stormed Congress, trashed the offices of officials like Nancy Pelosi, and caused the deaths of five people including one police officer, now seems to be realizing the severity of his actions. Currently, Trump is comfortably resting at Mar-a-Lago as Congress debates impeachment articles, but he’s facing no legal recourse for inciting the January 6th insurrection. His followers, however, people like Chansley and Jenna Ryan — the Texas real estate broker who chartered a private plane to attend the riot — are facing serious consequences, including significant jail time, if they’re found guilty of federal charges which include disorderly conduct, threatening Congressional officials, and obstructing a Congressional proceeding.
The threat of prison — and a future devoid of his medically-necessary organic diet — seems to have served as a kind of wake-up call for Chansley, according to his attorney, Al Watkins, who previously pushed for a pardon for his client.
“He regrets very very much having not just been duped by the President, but by being in a position where he allowed that duping to put him in a position to make decisions he should not have made,” Watkins told NBC News affiliate KSDK. “As to my client, the guy with the horns and the fur, the meditation, and organic food…I’m telling you that we cannot simply wave a magic wand and label all these people on January 6th the same.”
Watkins also seemed to suggest more rioters facing charges stemming from the Jan. 6th insurrection had requested his services, though he declined to release names. Instead, he focused on his defense strategy which looks to be focused on placing the blame for the violence his client helped carry out squarely on Trump’s shoulders.
“Let’s roll the tape. Let’s roll the months of lies, and misrepresentations, and horrific innuendo and hyperbolic speech by our president designed to inflame, enrage, motivate,” Watkins said. ” What’s really curious is the reality that our president, as a matter of public record, invited these individuals, as President, to walk down to the capitol with him.”
In regards to Trump pardoning his client, Watkins recently said this: “The words and invitation of a president are supposed to mean something. Given the peaceful and compliant fashion in which Mr. Chansley comported himself, it would be appropriate and honorable for the president to pardon Mr. Chansley and other like-minded, peaceful individuals who accepted the president’s invitation with honorable intentions.”
Guess Joe Exotic isn’t the only flamboyant figure upset with Trump over his lack of pardon now.
(Via KSDK)