WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 06: A protester screams "Freedom" inside the Senate chamber after the U.S. Capitol was breached by a mob during a joint session of Congress on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Congress (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Following President Donald Trump‘s pardon of the Jan. 6 rioters, Jacob Chansley, better known as the “QAnon Shaman,” says he plans to celebrate by “buy[ing] some motha-f—in’ guns.”
One of the most aggressive rioters at the Capitol in 2021, Chansley made a particularly strong impression on the public due to his eccentric appearance: armed with a spear and decked out with a horned fur hat made of raccoon fur, Chansley’s face was slathered with red, white and blue face paint as he led the mob into the Capitol.
In November 2021, Chansley pleaded guilty to a felony charge of obstructing an official proceeding after he called the FBI and outed himself, saying his “behavior is indefensible” and claiming to be a victim of MAGA propaganda. He was sentenced to 41 months in prison. One of the longest prison sentences a Jan. 6 rioter received, Chansley was released in May 2023 after only 27 months.
Despite Vice President JD Vance’s statement a few weeks ago, “If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned,” Trump pardoned 1,500 people convicted for crimes connected to the riot on Monday – including many convicted of physical violence.
Specifically, Trump granted a “full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” – including those who assaulted law enforcement officers.
Trump further commuted the sentences of 14 members of the far-right neo-fascist Proud Boys and Oath Keepers militias.
By Monday evening, Chansley was celebrating on X, in block letters, “I got a pardon baby! Thank you President Trump!”
“Now I’m gonna buy some motha-f—in’ guns! I love this country! God bless America!” he said, adding, “J6ers are getting released [and] justice has come. Everything done in the dark will come to light.”
Asked for comment, Chansley told The Independent, “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!”
In 2024, Trump promised in a TruthSocial post that among his first acts in office would be to free the January 6 rioters from being “wrongfully imprisoned.” The commutations and blanket pardons he has issued erased the work of the US’ largest criminal investigation in history.
In August, a D.C. judge allowed Chansley to get his headdress and spear back from police.
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