Tucker Carlson’s cherry-picked presentation of Jan. 6 footage handed over to him by Speaker Kevin McCarthy has created a new false martyr for the right: Jacob Chansley, AKA Jake Angeli, AKA the QAnon Shaman.
Chansley is currently serving a 41-month sentence for his role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol. He was among the first 30 people to enter the Capitol after its windows were broken in and members of the mob climbed through those windows and kicked a door open from the inside. He was part of the group that entered the Senate chamber, where he left a note reading, “It’s Only A Matter Of Time. Justice Is Coming!” at the dais Mike Pence had had to flee to escape the crowd.
This is the guy Tucker Carlson specifically singled out to portray as a tourist in the Capitol, ushered around the building by supportive police officers. And it’s having an effect. The lawyer for notorious Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola asked a judge to throw out Pezzola’s case on the basis of Carlson’s “exculpatory” video of Chansley.
RELATED STORY: Kevin McCarthy gave Tucker Carlson Jan. 6 footage. Carlson went big with his lies
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“Chansley was not some passive, chaperoned observer of events for the roughly hour that he was unlawfully inside the Capitol,” prosecutors responded. “He was part of the initial breach of the building; he confronted law enforcement for roughly 30 minutes just outside the Senate Chamber; he gained access to the gallery of the Senate along with other members of the mob (obviously, precluding any Senate business from occurring); and he gained access to and later left the Senate floor only after law enforcement was able to arrive en masse to remove him.”
As is so often the case these days when a new false right-wing claim circulates, Elon Musk jumped right on it.
“Free Jacob Chansley,” Musk tweeted, over a video of Chansley, late in the day on January 6, shouting into his bullhorn to tell his fellow insurrectionists that Donald Trump had finally called on them to leave the Capitol. The person posting the video described it as “censored video”—so censored that Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette had entered footage of the same moment into the congressional record to show that Trump had always had the ability to tell the crowd to leave the Capitol.
Musk wasn’t done there. "Chansley got 4 years in prison for a non-violent, police-escorted tour!?" Musk wrote in another tweet. "Dave Chapelle was violently assaulted on stage by a guy with a knife. That guy got a $3000 fine & no prison time." Again, in reality, Chansley “was part of the initial breach of the building; he confronted law enforcement for roughly 30 minutes just outside the Senate Chamber; he gained access to the gallery of the Senate along with other members of the mob (obviously, precluding any Senate business from occurring); and he gained access to and later left the Senate floor only after law enforcement was able to arrive en masse to remove him.”
In multiple replies to his tweets, Musk continued to insist that Chansley was a nonviolent protester who behaved with respect and was escorted by police—rather than being trailed by police who were urging him to leave.
Predictably enough, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene also jumped right on board with Carlson’s lies after his segment aired, calling for Chansley to get a retrial (when in reality he pleaded guilty). Racist Dilbert creator Scott Adams tweeted, “Republicans need to shut down Congress until the Q-anon Shaman is released without charges or pardoned by Biden.” Other MAGA celebrities like Randy Quaid, Antonio Sabato Jr, Juanita Broaddrick, and the remaining half of Diamond and Silk also piled on.
The man was at the front of a mob that broke windows and kicked open doors of the U.S. Capitol to keep Congress from certifying the presidential election results. He made his way to the dais in the Senate chamber after the members of the Senate fled the crowd. Now, thanks to Kevin McCarthy giving Tucker Carlson license to create a false narrative of the day, Chansley is the martyr du jour. But he’s just another criminal.
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