PHOENIX (AP) – An Arizona man who took part in the January 6 uprising at the US Capitol while wearing a face paint, no shirt and a hairy hat with horns, now says he regrets he stormed the building, apologizing for causing fear in others and expressing disappointment with former President Donald Trump.
In a statement released by his lawyer late Monday, Jacob Chansley said he had been judging his life since he was jailed for more than a month on charges of rioting, and now realizes he did not Capitol building should not have entered. Chansley, who earlier said Trump inspires him to be in Washington on January 6, said Trump “has let many peaceful people down.”
Chansley said he was coming to terms with the events that led to the riots, and asked people to ‘be patient with me and other peaceful people who, like me, find it very difficult to take everything that is with us, around us. happened, and with us. We are good people who care a lot about our country. ”
Chansley’s attorney, Al Watkins, made the statement about half a day before Trump’s indictment in the U.S. Senate would begin.
Watkins, who successfully ran on behalf of Chansley on behalf of Trump, said the Senate did not accept his offer to have his client testify about how he was incited by the former president.
The defense attorney said his client did not apologize, but rather a true expression of guilt. Yet he said he does not believe it is right to prosecute people who have been incited.
“If you believe the government is properly prosecuting the (former) president, you cannot at the same time hold those who are incited criminally punishable because the people who are incited become victims,” Watkins said in an interview.
No one picked up the phone at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Columbia District when The Associated Press called Tuesday to comment on Chansley’s apology.
Chansley was among a group of hundreds of pro-Trump supporters who outraged police officers and stormed the Capitol when Congress convened to vote to confirm Joe Biden’s election victory.
According to authorities, Chansley was one of the first people in the Capitol building, did not obey an officer’s order to leave, refused the officer’s request to use Chansley’s bullhorn to request rioters around the Senate Hall to leave and wrote a note to then-Vice President Mike Pence. who said, “It’s just a matter of time, justice comes.”
Prosecutors said the spear on top of a flagpole carried by Chansley was a weapon, although his lawyer characterized the spear as an ornament.
Since his arrest, Chansley has had two cases in which he did not eat because the detention facilities where he was detained did not serve organic food.
He lost 20 kilograms (9 kilograms) during the latest starvation delivery. Chansley, who calls himself the ‘QAnon Shaman’, said he had been following such a diet for eight years while practicing Shamanism.
Last week, a judge ordered officials to provide corrections to Chansley with organic food. He was later moved to a jail in Virginia after the Columbia District Department of Corrections said it could not comply with the court’s order to give him organic food.
He pleaded not guilty to charges of civil disorder and obstruction of justice, plus four other charges of misconduct.