Capitol Riot ‘QAnon Shaman’ willing to testify against Trump

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Infamous Capitol rioter Jacob Chansley has expressed his willingness to testify against former President Donald Trump.
• According to his lawyer Al Watkins, Chansley felt “betrayed” by his former idol after not getting a presidential pardon before he left office.
• Watkins said that Chansley’s testimony can be crucial in determining the impeachment case against Trump.

Jacob Chansley from Arizona, who is notoriously known as the Capitol rioter in a fur hat with horns, said that he is now willing to testify against former President Donald Trump, according to attorney Al Watkins, his legal counsel.

According to the Associated Press, Chansley felt that he was “betrayed” by Trump since he was not able to give him a pardon alongside others who stormed the US legislative building last January 6.

In a statement by Watkins on Thursday, as reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he said that his client was willing to discuss “whether the words of former President Trump were understood by Mr. Chansley to be nothing short of an invitation to go to the Capitol with the president to fight like hell.”

Watkins also said that Chansley was “horrendously smitten” with Trump and that he was just following the former president’s pronouncements during his rally address as Congress’ joint session commenced.

According to court records, Chansley told officials that he went to the Capitol “at the request of the president that all ‘patriots’ come to D.C. on January 6.”

In a tweet on Friday, well-known Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) poked fun at the idea of summoning Chansley to the Senate.

 “I cannot think of a better way to turn the upcoming impeachment trial into a complete circus than to call the QAnon Shaman as a witness on anything,” he wrote.

Watkins remained firm that Chansley’s testimony would be vital. “If the pending Article of Impeachment has merit, the voice of Mr. Chansley, and the voice of others in like position, must be heard and believed,” he said.

In an interview with NBC-affiliated TV station KSDK last week, Watkins cited a video containing Trump’s speeches.

“Let’s roll the months of lies and misrepresentations and horrific innuendo and hyperbolic speech by our president designed to inflame, enrage, motivate,” he said. “What’s really curious is the reality that our president, as a matter of public record, invited these individuals, as president, to walk down to the Capitol with him.”

A regular participant during Trump rallies, Chansley has not yet entered a plea on the charges thrown against him in connection with the January 6′ Capitol siege. 

Trump’s Senate impeachment trial is scheduled to start on the week of February 8.

A testimony from a rioter such as Chansley, who thought that he was only following orders, can be used as a piece of evidence to say that Trump was guilty of inciting violence based on the articles of impeachment filed by the Democrat-controlled House against him.

Source: AOL.com