'QAnon Shaman' Jacob Chansley says he will 'buy some motha f***in guns' after Trump pardon [View all]

Source: The Independent

Tuesday 21 January 2025 10:05 EST


The spear-wielding, bare-chested Jan. 6 rioter known as the “Qanon Shaman” has been pardoned by Donald Trump and says he plans to “buy some motha f***in’ guns” in order to celebrate his freedom.Jacob Chansley from Phoenix, Arizona, was one of the first Trump supporters to descend on the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn the then-incumbent president’s 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden.

Sporting a horned fur hat made from raccoon fur, his red, white and blue face paint and use of a bullhorn to rile up the mob rocketed the far-right conspiracy theorist as a worldwide symbol for the insurrection. A judge later said he “literally spearheaded” the movement into the chamber.

In November 2021, Chansley pleaded guilty to a felony charge of obstructing an official and was ordered to serve 41 months in prison – one of the longest sentences received by a rioter – but was released after 27 months in May 2023. But on Monday, he was one of the 1,500 individuals charged with crimes connected to the riot whose convictions were quashed, as Trump picked up his pardoning pen upon being sworn in and launching his second administration.

“Our rights are given to us by God not government. Freedom is our natural state of being. My spirit is free, I was born to be wild [and] I am gonna travel around the country now that I finally can!,” Chansley told The Independent when reached for comment.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/aqnon-shaman-jacob-chansley-trump-pardon-b2683533.html