The January 6 insurrection attempt in Washington DC may feel like it happened years ago, but that’s simply our warped sense of time in the age of Donald Trump and an extremely deadly and difficult pandemic. Trump, the twice impeached former president, is now calling boxing matches eight months later. Just to give you an idea of how far away all that seems.
But the fallout from his supporters’ attempt to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 is still playing out. And one of the unfortunate stars of the MAGA riot, the so-called QAnon Shaman, is struggling to distance himself from the conspiracy-obsessed past that got him arrested after breaching the US Capitol in January.
As Law and Crime detailed, a judge handling legal matters for Jacob “QAnon Shaman” Chansley denied his petition for an early release for a third time, expressing skepticism that the “mascot” for the conspiracy theory actually had a change of heart.
Chansley’s counsel said in a statement that Chansley “repudiated” QAnon. Chansley has not personally indicated as such to this Court. Still, regardless of any potential repudiation, there is no doubt that he is a mascot for the QAnon movement. Hundreds of attendees joined Chansley’s September 3, 2021 plea-agreement hearing on the public access line, and at least once this Court’s proceedings were interrupted with shouts of “Freedom!”
Every case tied to the January 6 insurrection has weird twists and turns, but the QAnon Shaman’s has certainly been the most public. And since the judge here doesn’t sound too impressed by his attempt to distance himself from the spiral of conspiracy that got him to Washington in the first place, his sentencing on November 17 should certainly be interesting.