PHOENIX — The attorney for Arizona’s “Q Sent Me Shaman” wants President Donald Trump to pardon his client.
Albert Watkins, a St. Louis-based lawyer for Jacob A. Chansley, also known as Jake Angeli, has been charged in connection with the protest that turned violent at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
Watkins claims his client and other supporters of the president were invited to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol.
“Mr. Chansley is an American, he served honorably in the U.S. military,” said Mr. Watkins. “He has zero criminal history. He is a lover of nature, routinely practices meditation, is an active practitioner of yoga and only eats organic food. He took seriously the countless messages of President Trump. He believed in President Trump. Like tens of millions of other Americans, Mr. Chansley felt for the first time in his life as though his voice was being heard.”
Chansley is currently being held in a federal private prison in Phoenix. He’s being held in quarantine custody pursuant to COVID-19 medication mitigation protocols.
Chansley, according to Watkins, “voluntarily and peacefully surrendered to federal authorities immediately upon learning of their interest in him. He has been and intends to continue to be cooperative with the government as it conducts its investigation into the violence that occurred on January 6, 2021.”
Watkins denies his client played any part in that violence.
Mr. Chansley did not hide his identity,” said Watkins. “He is unarmed. He is not violent. He was not destructive. His attire was consistent with his long-held shaman beliefs. While in the Capital building, he followed the instructions of supportive and respect for law-enforcement personnel. He did not bear arms but rather sported a megaphone… so it’s voice can be heard. When alerted to the fact that federal law enforcement officials were interested in him, he immediately and peacefully surrendered himself to the FBI.”
Mr. Watkins continued, “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 for the president to pardon Mr. Chansley and other like-minded peaceful individuals who accepted the president’s invitation with honorable intentions.”