When Donald Trump encouraged his supporters to march to Capitol Hill on his behalf, Jacob Chansley was one of several people who made his way to the U.S. Capitol, participating in the siege that is still making headlines. His involvement in the riots has resulted in legal issues and more recently, an overall regret that he even showed up for the former president.
As Complex reported, the QAnon member feels like he was “duped” by Trump, especially after he failed to pardon any of the rioters connected to the insurrection.
“The request was of extraordinary value in that it accorded Trump an opportunity to do what his followers believed would have been the ‘honorable’ thing to do,” Angeli’s attorney Al Watkins told KMOV4. “Mr. Chansley, along with many others who were similarly situated, are now compelled to reconcile a betrayal by a man whose back they felt they had for years.”
The Jan. 6 riots saw thousands of Trump supporters gathering to fight for his re-election, but Chansley’s notorious garb made him stand out among the crowd. He was captured shirtless in various photographs with fur, a horned helmet and an American flag painted on his face. He faces charges of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
“He regrets very, very much having not just been duped by the president, but by being in a position where he allowed that duping to put him in a position to make decisions he should not have made,” Watkins added in an interview with KSDK.
Chansley’s regret is a far different tune than the one he cried almost immediately after the Capitol raid. “The fact that we had a bunch of our traitors in office hunker down, put on their gas masks and retreat into their underground bunker, I consider that a win,” the QAnon rioter initially said.