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An Arizona federal judge ruled on Monday that the self-proclaimed “QAnon Shaman” – who was widely recognized after storming the U.S. Capitol shirtless, wearing face paint, bearskin and horned headdress Jan. 6 – must remain in jail until trial.
Nicholas Rodean, 26, of Frederick, Md., Was pictured inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6 wearing his employee badge for a home marketing company.
(Department of Justice)
Judge Royce Lamberth said Jacob Chansley does not fully appreciate the gravity of the charges against him and has found none of Chansley’s “many attempts to manipulate the evidence and downplay the seriousness of his actions” to be convincing.
Jacob Chansley, the self-proclaimed “QAnon Shaman”.
(Alexandria Sheriff’s Office)
He said Chansley’s willingness to use violence and refusal to follow police orders during the siege signaled that he would not follow court-ordered release terms.
Lamberth’s decision comes after an interview Chansley gave to “60 Minutes Plus” which aired last Thursday on “CBS This Morning” – the day before a DC judge heard arguments over Chansley’s potential release ahead of trial.
The judge wrote that Chansley carried a spear in the seat, used a megaphone to encourage other rioters, laymaned then Vice President Mike Pence as a traitor while in the Senate, and wrote a note to the Pence saying: matter of time, justice is coming. ”
Albert Ciarpelli (US District Court for District of Columbia)
((US District Court for District of Columbia))
Chansley, who disputed that the note was intended to be threatening, also posted a social media post in November promoting the hanging of the traitors.
DC DELEGATE ELANOR HOLMES NORTON ON THE BARRIERS OF CAPITOL: CONGRESS “ FEAR OF ITS SHADOW ”
“Reading this note in the context of the defendant’s previous promotion of the execution of ‘traitors’ invalidates the idea that the defendant violated the Capitol simply to leave peaceful political commentary on the Senate dais,” Lamberth wrote, adding that Chansey’s actions demonstrated a “detachment from reality.”
The judge sided with prosecutors who argued that the 6-inch spear mounted atop the flagpole carried by Chansley in the Capitol was a dangerous weapon. His lawyer had called the spear an ornament.
Chansley’s attorney also said his client was part of the third wave of rioters who came to the Capitol. But the judge said the video shows Chansley, who entered the Capitol through a door as rioters smashed neighboring windows, “literally directed” the rush towards the building.
He has been jailed since his arrest in the days that followed as a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol as Congress certified Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over then-President Donald Trump.
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Chansley’s attorney, Al Watkins, said his client had not acted violently inside the Capitol and disputed that Chansley was some sort of leader in the riot.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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